“I love you being you”

Last week I wrote about my realization of the many years spent trying to be “not me”. Trying to fit in, to do it “right”, to be approved of and included.

A friend responded so generously with, “I love you being you.” Isn’t that a great message to receive?

For sure, we women are encouraged, directed, and even programmed to be “not ourselves”. Whole industries – fashion, makeup, hair, diet, body image, etc. - and career directions are built on women fitting into certain norms and roles.

Thank goodness these limitations continue to shift and weaken, but they remain strong in our collective subconscious as they continue to shape our choices and potential. This of course hurts us all – women and men – by limiting diversity and what’s possible.

Studies show that more diversity in gender, race, and ethnicity are great for business and for society.

So how do you as a woman trained in certain behaviors and beliefs break out of the expectations you have been given by those you love and those you want to please?

This path is especially important if you have a small business which you want to succeed in a world crammed with a cacophony of voices vying for the attention of your prospective client.  You have to be “yourself” and communicate with an authentic voice.

How to go about this?

1. Get to know yourself. You probably are already on a growth path of trying to be your best self. Stay the course. Find and use resources and teachers who inspire you and make you feel good about yourself and your potential.
2. Discover your deepest desire and give it room and nurturance in your life. Many women don’t know what they authentically desire for themselves. It’s time to find out.
3. Find your voice and use it. You don’t have to be strident or unpleasant. But you can be opinionated. We want to hear what you have to say.
4. Realize that your opinion of yourself is more important than anyone else’s. In fact, most everybody else is focused on themselves rather than paying attention to you.
5. Gather your tribe. It takes support and encouragement to live life as yourself. And you won’t find that support everywhere. In fact there may be just a few people who see your magnificence and encourage your potential. Hang out with them. Share your dreams with them, not with people who will stomp on them.
6. Believe more in yourself than in the programming you’ve been given as a woman in your culture. The containment and control of women is millennia old. The time for change is here.
7. Have fun being yourself. You are uniquely talented to be you. Let yourself be silly, creative, and playful. You never know what will happen when you let a little levity into your life.

I leave you with the full message I got from Jessica Sabatini in response to my last email to you. She wrote,

“I love you being you. I agree that finding the archetype that is your truth makes a HUGE difference in the impact of your message. I also tried to be what I wasn't for a while. I was intimidated to be myself, worrying it wasn't noble enough. But I finally gave in and started sharing my intimate truth. And it's making a HUGE impact on others.”

Would you benefit from someone helping you discover your deepest desires, find your voice, and incorporate them in your work and share it with the world?

If this sounds good to you, sign up for a complimentary discovery session with me.

What could 30 minutes of conversation to uncover the riches living within you do for you and your business? Is it time to find out?