Are you letting yourself grow?
My new website went live over the weekend. It was very low-key, externally. Internally it was very oonst oonst dance party with squeals and butterflies. And maybe twerking.
And as that internal party quietened down, I spent some time reflecting.
I thought about how I'm growing.
Because you may have watched me recently building and launching my School of unProfessional Writing. And because, as I did that, I learned some things about myself, like:
That I'm more rebellious now than I used to be.
That I'm still getting braver every day.
That I'm yet again even less concerned with other people's opinions of me.
That I can build shit. And I'm fucking good at it.
And that led me to a decision.
The decision to let myself grow.
To let myself get ballsier.
To let myself get a little less playful and a little more hands-on-hips-staring-you-down-I'd-like-to-see-you-tell-me-what-to-do-go-on-just-try-it. (A stance which, by the way, my sister assures me I've taken since I was 3 years old, but maybe I'm just finding my way back to.)
To let myself more explicitly reject all the systems and conventions that simply don't have a place anymore in the enlightened world we live in. Things like:
Subconscious bias
Systemic racism
Exclusionary beliefs and laws and practices
PRO-FESS-IONAL-WRITING
Any other bullshit that causes people harm
I listened. I rongo au.
I listened. I rongo au.
It was time to show up just a little differently. Still me. More me. The next iteration of me, because I'm growing.
(And I built the fricking website myself, y'all! (And yes, if you're wondering, I DO think I'm cool, thank you very much.)
It was quite a process, you know... Letting myself grow this next little bit. So I'm wondering:
Are you letting yourself grow?
Because growth means change, and humans find change scary. It might scare you. Or it might scare people around you.
Can I just say this:
It's not your job to make others feel comfortable.
It's ok for you to be just a little different than you were yesterday. Or last month. Or last year. And it's ok if other people need a little bit of time to catch up.
And in the meantime, know that you're not alone.
Cos we're in this together.
We're growing baby!
