This fantastic young woman has GOT IT, so I had to share with you. Her name is Lucy, and she is half of the popular online duo, Kaelyn and Lucy. Even the most confident of people can use a reminder sometimes, even if you're 44 and she's...YOUNG.
Love her!
If you like what you see, check out their YouTube page!
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Here's What I Really Think About Women
I was perfectly happy easing myself into the world of blogging. I started blogging for a company I used to work for (FlexJobs.com -- they are AMAZEBALLS) and loved every minute of it. When I went out on my own, I thought I would start with two of my most current and timely passions -- careers and transitioning to a plant-based, gluten-free life. (You can see those blogs here and here.)
But I just came from an amazing brunch with two of the most incredible women I know and was inspired to come home and write -- and this topic didn't fit in with my other blogs, so I just had to create a whole new blog so I could write about this -- and anything else I want, for that matter.
Here's what has me all fired up, you guys. I am blessed to have amazing women surrounding me. (Men, too -- but this is about us women.) The women I just had brunch with are unbelievable.
UN. BELIEVABLE.
And they DO NOT KNOW IT!!! They have absolutely NO idea how incredible they are. I think they have somewhat of an idea of how much they have impacted my life. But they are nowhere close to knowing how over-the-top fabulous they are.
One of them has survived an abusive marriage, got herself the heck out of there, found herself a wonderful new man (perfect? no. wonderful and flawed? yes.), struggled with infertility, has an amazing career, and a beautiful life. Not easy. Not perfect. But beautiful. She is my hero.
The other one is an executive director at an international corporation, found her love later in life, suffered a tragic miscarriage, had a beautiful baby girl at an "advanced maternal age" (I can say that because I was labeled in the the same unfortunate way during my second pregnancy at 38), has recently hit a HUGE bump in the road in her marriage, stood up for herself, confronted when confrontations were needed, is dealing with aging parents, and is also my hero.
But here's the thing. Neither one of these women have ANY idea how CRAZY incredible they are. At all. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a huge curser. I don't see the point to it. But I have to swear when I talk about these women because they are THE SHIT. There's just no other way to say it.
And then I started thinking about all the other women in my life. I could say the exact same thing about all of the women in my life. EVERY SINGLE ONE. But why don't we all know this about ourselves and more importantly, accept it? Why are we constantly comparing ourselves to each other? Why do we take the things that happen to us in this life and twist it around until it turns out to be our fault somehow?
Now, I have always had a healthy self-esteem and I don't know where it comes from -- but I wish I could rub it off on every woman and girl I meet. It's not that my life is exactly where I thought it would be when I was 44. Not even close.
It's not that I don't have extra pounds to lose, but I refuse to let that determine my self-worth. It's not that haven't had a horrible miscarriage, fertility issues, and diagnoses of multiple autoimmune diseases. I just don't let them define me. Those are all pieces of me, but they have not made me feel less about myself.
Before I had some bumps in my 20-year marriage, I totally thought I was the shit. When we hit those bumps, I started to think, "Wait -- I always thought I was unbelievable...am I not? Was I wrong?" It admittedly took a toll on the self-esteem for a little while. But once I bounced back, I realized that I was the only one who was going to be responsible for how I felt about myself.
Life is getting hard. In your 40's, you're faced with things you didn't have to worry about as a 20- or 30-something. Aging parents, raising kids, illness, marriage issues, and just making sure you're doing everything you possibly can to do things right and leave the world a little better. And I want to start with all the women out there.
You are the shit.
Seriously.
You single moms that do it all by yourself all the time? You are the shit and I take my hat off to you every single night that my husband is traveling -- which is a lot.
You young mom with the tiny little baby at home...looking to find a job that will help you bring home the bacon and still be the one to raise your baby? You are the shit. And I wish I could give each and every one of you the help you need when you need it.
You older mom who loses her husband much too early in life and has to pull yourself up by the bootstraps to raise children and earn a living for the family? You are the shit.
You cancer survivor, who I think of EVERY SINGLE DAY, because you battled a horrible disease while still making sure your family still felt loved the whole time? You are the shit.
You military wife who has to let her husband go much too often and spend the whole time hoping, praying and waiting for him to come home safely? You are the shit.
You single 20-something who has absolutely no idea how free you are because you are so broke? You are the shit. (And you'll realize it when you look back on this 20 years from now.)
I read an enlightening article a while ago (I'll try to find it to share with you) about putting a picture of your 10-year-old self up in front of you and talking to it the way you would want someone to talk to a 10-year-old -- instead of the way we are all talking to ourselves in our heads. I think it's such a brilliant idea and think it's something we should all do.
You are amazing. Please believe it and start living like it. You deserve nothing less.
Because you are the shit.
(Image courtesy of shareasimage.com)
But I just came from an amazing brunch with two of the most incredible women I know and was inspired to come home and write -- and this topic didn't fit in with my other blogs, so I just had to create a whole new blog so I could write about this -- and anything else I want, for that matter.
Here's what has me all fired up, you guys. I am blessed to have amazing women surrounding me. (Men, too -- but this is about us women.) The women I just had brunch with are unbelievable.
UN. BELIEVABLE.
And they DO NOT KNOW IT!!! They have absolutely NO idea how incredible they are. I think they have somewhat of an idea of how much they have impacted my life. But they are nowhere close to knowing how over-the-top fabulous they are.
One of them has survived an abusive marriage, got herself the heck out of there, found herself a wonderful new man (perfect? no. wonderful and flawed? yes.), struggled with infertility, has an amazing career, and a beautiful life. Not easy. Not perfect. But beautiful. She is my hero.
The other one is an executive director at an international corporation, found her love later in life, suffered a tragic miscarriage, had a beautiful baby girl at an "advanced maternal age" (I can say that because I was labeled in the the same unfortunate way during my second pregnancy at 38), has recently hit a HUGE bump in the road in her marriage, stood up for herself, confronted when confrontations were needed, is dealing with aging parents, and is also my hero.
But here's the thing. Neither one of these women have ANY idea how CRAZY incredible they are. At all. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a huge curser. I don't see the point to it. But I have to swear when I talk about these women because they are THE SHIT. There's just no other way to say it.
And then I started thinking about all the other women in my life. I could say the exact same thing about all of the women in my life. EVERY SINGLE ONE. But why don't we all know this about ourselves and more importantly, accept it? Why are we constantly comparing ourselves to each other? Why do we take the things that happen to us in this life and twist it around until it turns out to be our fault somehow?
Now, I have always had a healthy self-esteem and I don't know where it comes from -- but I wish I could rub it off on every woman and girl I meet. It's not that my life is exactly where I thought it would be when I was 44. Not even close.
It's not that I don't have extra pounds to lose, but I refuse to let that determine my self-worth. It's not that haven't had a horrible miscarriage, fertility issues, and diagnoses of multiple autoimmune diseases. I just don't let them define me. Those are all pieces of me, but they have not made me feel less about myself.
Before I had some bumps in my 20-year marriage, I totally thought I was the shit. When we hit those bumps, I started to think, "Wait -- I always thought I was unbelievable...am I not? Was I wrong?" It admittedly took a toll on the self-esteem for a little while. But once I bounced back, I realized that I was the only one who was going to be responsible for how I felt about myself.
Life is getting hard. In your 40's, you're faced with things you didn't have to worry about as a 20- or 30-something. Aging parents, raising kids, illness, marriage issues, and just making sure you're doing everything you possibly can to do things right and leave the world a little better. And I want to start with all the women out there.
You are the shit.
Seriously.
You single moms that do it all by yourself all the time? You are the shit and I take my hat off to you every single night that my husband is traveling -- which is a lot.
You young mom with the tiny little baby at home...looking to find a job that will help you bring home the bacon and still be the one to raise your baby? You are the shit. And I wish I could give each and every one of you the help you need when you need it.
You older mom who loses her husband much too early in life and has to pull yourself up by the bootstraps to raise children and earn a living for the family? You are the shit.
You cancer survivor, who I think of EVERY SINGLE DAY, because you battled a horrible disease while still making sure your family still felt loved the whole time? You are the shit.
You military wife who has to let her husband go much too often and spend the whole time hoping, praying and waiting for him to come home safely? You are the shit.
You single 20-something who has absolutely no idea how free you are because you are so broke? You are the shit. (And you'll realize it when you look back on this 20 years from now.)
I read an enlightening article a while ago (I'll try to find it to share with you) about putting a picture of your 10-year-old self up in front of you and talking to it the way you would want someone to talk to a 10-year-old -- instead of the way we are all talking to ourselves in our heads. I think it's such a brilliant idea and think it's something we should all do.
You are amazing. Please believe it and start living like it. You deserve nothing less.
Because you are the shit.
(Image courtesy of shareasimage.com)
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