Oh. Hi there. Remember me? Keeper of this blog.
I hadn’t forgotten about this blog in the last six months so much as life took over and suddenly blogging seemed to take a back seat.
Since publishing the last post, a few things have happened:
- I enrolled in a Toastmasters club in October and am an up-and-coming public speaker (and not a bad one at that!)
- My Toastmasters club also does improv, so I’m learning about the art of improvisation
- My younger sister got engaged and I’m now the maid of honor (which is far more fun that I expected it would be).
- And, lastly (and sadly), I lost my ginger sidekick, PuppyCat, in February. At 18 years old, he’d been with me through nearly every single thing that had happened in my adult life. It seems weird to feel so incredibly sad about your cat dying, but here we are.
In between Polar Vortexes, birthday celebrations, work commitments and wedding dress fittings, Winter 2019 has seemed like something of a blur to me.
I entered March with a spring in my step. Quite literally I woke up on March 1 in a great mood and bounced into the month as though I had somehow shed a layer of doom and gloom while I slept.
One week into the month, I was sitting in Google’s Chicago HQ listening to Felecia Hatcher tell a group of us that no one benefits from us hiding our baddassery. That we should take up space and not allow others to let us feel small. I didn’t know who Felecia was prior to this day, but I sure as hell wanted to follow her and her epicness afterwards. (I also recommend you follow her too: http://www.feleciahatcher.com).
Someone in the audience had mentioned to Felecia and the rest of us that we should read Girl, Wash Your Face to get a little extra badass warrior goddess pep in our step. I’d heard of the book before but never really did anything about it….until this day.
After heading home from the symposium, I stopped off at Barnes & Noble and headed straight to the Rachel Hollis section. She’d just released her new book: Girl, Stop Apologizing and so being the badass warrior goddess wanna-be that I am, I picked them both up. In hardcover. (You’re welcome Rachel).
Infused with International Women’s Day energy and having just come down from a pro-women symposium bender, I consumed Girl, Wash Your Face in THREE HOURS.
It was THAT GOOD.
Now, before you think I’m getting some sort of royalty payment or affiliate cred for telling you about these books, trust me when I tell you, I’m not. I’m telling you about these books because they helped me identify, dismantle, and then put away some of the pain and frustration I’d been feeling for a long time. In a way, they helped me clear my head and find a sharper focus on who I am, what my limits are, and what I aspire to.
They helped me realize I AM a BADASS WARRIOR. End of Sentence. There is no need to question it, no need to explain it, and no need to apologize for it.
They helped me realize I how many lies I’ve accepted as truths because it’s what I’ve always heard.
They helped me realize that I apologize way too much for my liking and that I want to stop apologizing when I haven’t actually done anything wrong.
They helped me realize I am unapologetically ambitious and I will not let others make me feel small as I often have so many times in my life.
I’ve felt a renewed passion to writing and putting myself out there. I may never reach influencer status or write any books, nor will I be as big or as popular as Rachel Hollis, but reading her books and listening to Felecia talk renewed a spirit in me I’d long since lost.
So here we go again….
The Accidental Badass 