Tonight I joined a panel of powerful women. Not powerful in the way society tries to drive us to think, but powerful in the way God guides us to follow. These were women who had chosen (or been given) the challenging roads in life, but who knew how to find the beauty of it all while morphing it into a new way of being. Of thinking. Of surviving. They knew how to re-purpose a life moment and use it to propel their life into action and measurable outcomes. Ten minutes before, there were 5 empty stools absent of meaning. Ten minutes later the stools were holding up previously anonymous (to me) women of triumph! Each story had its own distinct details of how they arrived unexpectedly at a crossroads, how they captured that moment, and then carried it forward in outcome, but all of them sang the same song of hope, choice, and the reinvention of self.
Frustration with
Corporate America -> reinventing a career to advocate for women
through fair trade.
Sexual abuse and
exploitation -> changes in legislation and formal advocacy at
the ground level for hope despite circumstance.
Discovering Faith and
purpose in obstacle -> empowering women to not isolate or
self-destruct in their circumstance.
Finding oneself in an
ill-fitted employment-> grabbing a creative outlet to feed the
artistic soul and trust God to take care of the rest.
Finding oneself a
product of negative input -> choosing to gain control and change the course
for self and for family.
As I sat there on the panel in front of a room of women, I
was captured by the power of the collection. Sure, each story held its own
power, but bundled together into five stools at thr front of the room created this
force that overshadowed any feelings I previously had of inadequacy, or comparison of worth.
Together, we formed this unit of interwoven strands of strength that could
overcome anything life throws our way, and with grace, and dignity, and heads
held high! We were a force to be reckoned with because together we were proof
of push comes to shove, keep on shoving until you are on the other side! In that moment, I felt as though there wasn’t
a single thing we couldn’t do….together. I have no idea if this feeling was
shared by the other speakers, or even to those in attendance, but the moment
that hour was over the last thing I wanted to do was leave this 5 person cocoon
of triumph. As an individual, I carry my self-doubt. I question the validity of
my stories, of my strength. I see the limitations that lie underneath threatening
to squelch it all. But in this cocoon of women (whom I had met for the first
time only an hour before) carefully situation on 5 stools, my limitations/inadequacies/self-doubts/weaknesses
were replaced by the powers of camaraderie. We were a unity pushing out from a
single center into 5 directions of cumulative force. I was able to infer to
myself the strength of her story to my left. I was able to believe I carried
the same “gung ho” that she did to my right. I could encapsulate the strength
from her crisis and bask in the soothing of God’s grace through her
circumstance. It was the perfect illustration of the transference of strength
that can come in surrounding yourself with motivating people.
It’s in the following moments as you climb down off the stool
that you are acutely reminded of the absurdity of going about life in
isolation. Once you feel the empowerment of sharing a story (no matter how
different they each are) with a circle of women, you feel the emptiness of what
lies outside the circle. Why do we continue to do life in silence? Why do we
endure life events in isolation? Why are we so fearful of judgment and ridicule
when every single one of us has the story, it’s simply the details that makes
them differ? Do we really think we are designed to do life alone? Do we really
think God created us to wear these carefully concocted masks of perfection? Be
the sloppy mess that you are and surround yourself with women who don’t mind
getting their hands in your mud. Because life is messy!
Well, I’m up on my soap box! And I plan on staying here for
quite a bit. Gone may be the physical stool, but long lives the empowerment of unity
collected on it. QUIT DOING LIFE ALONE! Quit waiting for someone to knock on
your door (boy, am I ever guilty of that!). Get up, grab your story, and take
it to the streets! Be the one to reach out to find someone who will do life
with you, and you in return be someone worth doing life with. We need to quit
hiding behind the circumstances, and instead be empowered by the potential
outcomes. Life is going to happen to you, but we get to choose what to do with
the life that comes. It’s in your hands. The “stool cocoon” of doing life
together is sitting there waiting for you. Are you going to climb up on it? Boy,
how awesome will it be to see who sits down beside you. You just may find
yourself empowered by the beautiful mess they bring.
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