A Story About Being More of Me
On the day of the 2016 election, I wrote a blog that I was advised by someone I trusted to hold back on submitting because it was controversial.
In hindsight, I listened too much to this person and not enough to my own voice.
I shared that I was turned off by how fellow women in the coaching space behaved about the 2016 election of Trump.
However, there were moments I felt less of a woman because I wasn’t jumping on this so-called feminist bandwagon.
In Brene Brown’s, Braving the Wilderness, I came across a quote that literally made me jump for joy.
Here it is:
“Here’s what I believe: 1. If you are offended or hurt when you hear Hillary Clinton or Maxine Waters called bitch, whore, or the c-word, you should be equally offended and hurt when you hear those same words used to describe Ivanka Trump, Kellyanne Conway, or Theresa May. 2. If you felt belittled when Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters “a basket of deplorables” then you should have felt equally concerned when Eric Trump said “Democrats aren’t even human.” 3. When the president of the United States calls women dogs or talks about grabbing pussy, we should get chills down our spine and resistance flowing through our veins. When people call the president of the United States a pig, we should reject that language regardless of our politics and demand discourse that doesn’t make people subhuman. 4. When we hear people referred to as animals or aliens, we should immediately wonder, “Is this an attempt to reduce someone’s humanity so we can get away with hurting them or denying them basic human rights?” 5. If you’re offended by a meme of Trump Photoshopped to look like Hitler, then you shouldn’t have Obama Photoshopped to look like the Joker on your Facebook feed. There is a line. It’s etched from dignity. And raging, fearful people from the right and left are crossing it at unprecedented rates every single day. We must never tolerate dehumanization—the primary instrument of violence that has been used in every genocide recorded throughout history.”
I couldn’t get on board with language that made Trump subhuman during an ironic clamor for more humanity.
As I stand here today, I want to use this story as a remembering that my opinion matters.
My goal isn't to be controversial. My goal is to be true to myself. My goal is to have courage.
Thank you, Brene, for helping me have more conviction in my own thought process when I felt alone.
You are reminding me that our voices matter. When I stay silent, I'm denying another woman the chance to have more conviction in her beliefs or, the chance to organize her beliefs that little bit more.
What do you want to share, with love, that is true to who you are? Who benefits? Watch yourself evolve as a result.
To Your Amazing Spirit.
Much Love,
Sarah xxx
p.s. The Pump Up Membership is one way I'm using my voice and trusting it even more. If you want to become more acquainted with your voice, and hear the courageous voices of other women, join us.