Empower Your Wednesday

Welcome! Thanks for visiting, here you can find uplifting and empowering statements of inspiration. Each Wednesday you will find another post, another creative way we can empower our lives. If you don’t want to miss a week of empowerment sign up for my e-mail list below.

In a world where negative is featured on the news, social media has us our emotions in the gutter, I personally want to seek something that will bring me up from the darkness. Join and follow along on quotes, statements and my thoughts on how we can work together to help one another achieve great things.

I admire strong and confident people, especially those who can also be considerate and modest. Someone who can go through life, face the hardships, difficulties, challenges, along with the good times, joyful moments and still remain kind to others, is a person I can admire. It is easy to get down, frustrated and take out bitterness on others. Once in a while that can be simply having a bad day, we all have those. However, we have all encountered those individuals who seem to always live life in a bitter and unhappy manner.

The reality is there is nothing to gain from residing in the gutter of life. Rising up is not an easy task, often it feels like work, as if each step is going up a steep mountain.

Along with the bitter individuals we have also come across those people who are great. Those individuals who can find a glass half full situation, laugh at the ridiculous and difficult moments. Some are natural born leaders, encouragers, motivators who strive to lift others up without being invasive. It is those people, men and women alike, who I admire and hope I can one day be more like those people who can organically uplift others. There is a gift to those who have this ability. Yet, we do not have to be a great leader to help influence other’s to be better.

Think of the world we could live in if we each tried to encourage others, uplift one another, help those who are weak to stand on their own. It is not always easy, but small gestures of kindness and encouragement can go a long way.

Power. We all have power to an extent in our own lives. Yet, many of us give up that power. How? There are two different ways we give up power. One, we allow another person to take that power away from us. This is deeply unfortunate and often it is stemmed from fear. The fear of being alone, fear of losing our job, fear ____ fill in the blank. It is a horrible feeling to have a sense of helplessness when someone lurks over us and beats us down. Yet, IF it is possible to stand up to that individual or the situation, at first it is terrifying. It is scary knowing the end result could be negative and cause us to be without a job.

But, this is what I have learned by facing that fear and standing up for what I felt was right. It was scary, it was miserable facing the Human Resource Director. It got worse when she changed her words around to make me look bad. However, dealing with daily doses of verbal abuse from a manager was worse than sitting in that room. When I was terminated, I strutted down that hallway and out of the building. I may not have had a job any more with that company, but some how I knew it would be ok. Guess what? It was okay. I now have more time and energy to pursue my writing and my goals. Things were not easy, yes I was stressed out and at times I still experience a lot of stress. But, we all experience that stress in different ways in our lives. I would not want to work for that company that stood up for the abusive manager. The desire to be away from a job that was causing me to be very sick and unhealthy was greater than the fear of being fired.

I had become very sick during my time with this company. Want to know what happened when I became sick? I still had to go to work. If I tried to take a day off I would still be bothered and harassed by managers. Even IF my manager told the managers I worked with were told to leave me alone!

When the day came when I had enough of this abusive manager taking my power away, I was terrified. I was in tears when I reported the behavior to HR, and honestly I did not know how to react when their response to me was, “we are aware of the problem.”

Regardless, that day in January 2017 when I was let go from my position I put my faith into a power above. Some how it worked out and I believe IF you allow yourself to stand up to the person taking your power away from you, everything will be ok. It may not be simple or easy, but it will be possible to find your way.

The second way we give away our power and the focus on this Empowerment Wednesday Quote – we think we do not have any. Insecurity and the lack of belief in ourselves. We have gifts, we have talents, we have ability to do things well! Yet, these voices in our heads will be horribly quick to tell us all the ways we could fail, all the ways things could not work out. Yet, if we can take a breath and close off those voices, we could move mountains.

For years I told myself I could not be a writer. Who was I to think I COULD BE A WRITER? Yet, my heart longed to write and one day pursue this endeavor. For years I worked on my writing, creating short stories and longer stories that could be potential novels. During this time I told very few people that I would spend much of my free time writing. A voice in my head kept my dream hidden, but the deep desire in my heart kept me working on it.

Then one day I was in a belly dance class and one of my classmates showed up and announced she was selling her travel agency business. We were all surprised and shocked as this was very unexpected. Then she said the magical words, “I got an advance on my book, and my book is going to be published.” Suddenly, this woman needed to be my new best friend. Even though I knew her, and felt comfortable with her I was nervous about approaching her about writing. Then one day, I just went up to her and asked for advice. She was warm, wonderful and generous with valuable information to help me get started.

I continued working on my goals, this time with more energy than before. Yet, those voices continued to quiet me from truly going after my goals. I had taken my power away from myself.

Then one day, I began to speak up more about what I wanted to do. Something amazing happened. No one told me I couldn’t, the only negative voices that I could be heard were in my head. Then one day, an amazing gift of a friend shared with a woman who had once been a writer my dreams. This person became my writing mentor and my heart began to sing and dance. Then my friend continued to tell other established writers my goals and the most incredibly thing happened, they encouraged me. 

This lead me to working freelance for a regional horse magazine. My desire to do more than write about horses pushed me to start a blog, improve my website and write a book…and then write another. Currently, one of my books is going through an intense edit by my writing group. Once that is done, it will go to a professional editor and then…off to publishers to try and get it published. Yes, I am nervous, exhausted, and worried I am putting a lot of time into the unknown. Yet, I love nothing more than being able to say, “I am a writer.”

The truth is I will never know where writing will take me if I don’t pursue it. It took a long time to quiet the negative voices (they still come and visit from time to time). But, the reality is I won’t allow myself to steal power from myself anymore. Taking these steps once those voices were quieted allowed me to feel empowered and free.

What do you need to do to get your power back? Take the steps, it will be worth it. I promise.  

Fear, it is paralyzing. It holds us back and destroys dreams. Don’t let it hold back the desires that reside in the heart.

When I look at the goals I desire to accomplish, fear rushes through me. It is intimidating to go after my dream of having a book published. As I am currently working with my writer’s group to edit each chapter to help me prepare it for the next stage, I’m scared. Trying to go after my goals of being a full time travel and fitness writer, is overwhelming, and often feels impossible. It is terrifying to be so scared and uncertain and wonder if I am wasting my time chasing something I love so much.

For years I have allowed fear to stand in my way. The moments of past failures lurk in the dark valleys reminding me of what happened when I took a risk. Could it happen again, and all my hope and effort is a loss? Yes, but I won’t know unless I try, put in solid 100% effort despite the exhaustion.

Something I can no longer allow to hold me back is fear. There are times I still become so scared I feel like I am shaking and break down and cry. It is not easy, but I have to believe it is possible. The negative voices in my head love to tell me all the ways I am wasting time. It is not always easy to quiet those voices, but it is possible. In those moments of self doubt, I take a deep breath, and ask myself, ‘what are the alternatives if I choose not to go after my dream?’ If those options are not a road I want to travel, then I must push forward.

It is not easy watching others living their lives on social media, on YouTube making everything look merry and bright. I have gotten to a point where when I find myself I need to step away from focusing on others. When I start to get down about ‘other people and their success’, I back away. I readjust my focus on my goals, what I need to accomplish. It helps me clear my head, worry less about what someone else may be doing. Accept what someone else may be working on, or succeeding at is part of their journey. If we focus on the road ahead, our own challenges, we can be less distracted by other’s and more focused on what matters.

Yes, it is scary to take a risk. Yes, it can be terrifying to walk the steps to make something that we want to happen.

But…what are the alternatives? What if in a year or two or three our lives could be different because we took the risk, we tried and maybe, just maybe we found success?

Women… we have all encountered those women who are jealous, catty, and simply mean. In a world that can consist of so much hate, dealing with someone who intentionally beats us down is deflating. It is difficult enough to deal with the voices in our heads, to have someone who adds to the negative weight we already carry serves no purpose.

I never understood the reason behind the mean comments. Especially when so many have made it clear all of us deal with negative thoughts in our mind. We are very similar and where I feel we could do substantially more to help raise one another up, often we are found in positions where we are being beaten down.

We stand stronger together, than we do apart.

In order to accomplish this I encourage all of us to help give support to ALL women in our lives. Even the office brat that no one likes and everyone talks about her behind her back because, well, she deserves it! Maybe she does, but is that helping empower other women? No! We cannot make excuses and substitutions just because we do not like someone. We can find a way to respect each other. There are no rules that we have to be friends and buddies with every person we encounter, yet we can respect each other.

Think about the power we could have IF we could set aside our differences, support one another and be open to learn from one another. It comes as a challenge to women to get along, I think we are doing ourselves a disservice when we put up a wall to communication.  We also miss out on great things, incredible opportunity and possible friendships.

For example, I have a friend who years and years ago worked in an office in Minneapolis, Minn. In this office was a woman who sat at a cubicle away from everyone else and was subjected to hurtful comments behind her back. My friend was told not to talk to this woman as she was a ‘bitch’ and could not get along with anyone. Initially my friend kept her distance wanting to avoid trouble, then one day she wanted to find out for herself. She went over to this woman and began to talk to her and interact with her. Her and this woman made arrangements to go out for drinks after work one night, as she continued to get to know this woman she discovered she was an incredible person. She further found out there was an incorrect judgment placed upon her just because she is quiet due to being an introvert. These two continued to get to know one another and now over twenty years later they remain best friends.

If my friend had listened to everyone she worked with she would have missed out on an amazing friendship! What a loss that would have been when this friend has enriched her life for many years.

If we could let go of our need to be deep into competitive behavior and instead appreciated other’s success, think about what impact that could make in our own lives. Putting that kind of positive energy into the universe could only serve as a benefit.

It serves no benefit personally or professionally to hold a grudge, bitterness or inconsideration to others. Next time we encounter a person, male or female who is snarky or rude, take a moment to walk a mile in their shoes. There may not be an excuse for that inappropriate behavior, however, being able to counter that behavior with kindness can only enhance the world we live in. We do not know what another person is going through, responding hurt comments with even more hurtful comments does not help any situation. Hurt people seek out to hurt people. Sometimes all we need is a hug, a smile, a friendly gesture, seek out ways to enhance others with kindness and empowerment.

Newly established behavior takes time and endless tries of practice. One way to begin to establish better habits is by giving three compliments a week. It does not cost anything, it only takes observation and a willingness to speak up. Empower yourself by empowering others. Teach those around you how to shower others with kindness by offering kindness to others first. Live by example.

Together we can be the change we want to see in the world, and it all begins with the kindness and empowerment we offer to others.

In life we encounter people who want to shape us, be something different than who we are.

In this modern day life we watch models, musicians, various individuals who we place on a pedestal live their lives on social media. Magazines show us people who are adjusted in a program called Photoshop. Then we look in the mirror and what we see does not meet that unrealistic standard that gets set in our heads. This results in unfortunate behavior which is simply negative and harmful to ourselves.

Appreciate who you are as a person, as the world created you. It serves no purpose to wish a body or a lifestyle onto ourselves that is not possible. As a person who grew up with FOMO before there was ever a ‘FOMO’ I understand that feeling of being left out. For years I had a hard case of FOMO. If I went to a party I worried about what else I was missing. If I left to go see what was going on here, then I would panic about what I was missing out somewhere else. It was a constant sense of worry and it made my life miserable and unhealthy.

What is the life YOU want to live? What is the lifestyle you desire?

Have you asked yourself these questions? If not, take a moment and seek within, find quiet and meditate on what resides in your heart. If it does not come to you immediately, keep trying to find what you want in life. Then once you know, take the steps to create a path to obtain the life you want. Silence the voices who go against what you hope to seek and find in life.

It could be as simple as you want to be a size 14 instead of the sickly and unhealthy size 2 we see in magazines.

Maybe you want to run your own business, but all you see is cubicles when you walk into work day after day.

Whatever resides in your heart, go after what will fulfill you. As long as you are not harming anyone else, you have the right to live your dreams and goals. With hard work, endurance and the willingness to fight the good fight, it is possible.

Go – seek – find – and be amazing.

We are under so much scrutiny, is it necessary?

We find ourselves getting put down when we desire to be raised up.

Guess what? It IS okay to be proud of yourself! If we gave ourselves the permission to do something as simple as allow ourselves the freedom to sit back and be proud of our hard work, our effort, overcoming our challenges, we might stand a little taller. A lot of society and office dynamics tend to push us down. We turn in a report early or find errors that help make management look good, and do we get any kind of pat on the back? Nope.

When we try to stand up and feel good about ourselves we are pushed to sit back down. Whether it is the voices in our heads (which sadly tend to be negative) or an outside voice from a co-worker a friend who is actually a foe, we slump.

Quiet the voices in your head, ignore the negative comments from the people who do not matter. YOU matter. We have the right to kick back at the end of the work week and raise a glass, or a cupcake and give ourselves praise. Maybe something simple happened today or this week. Celebrate it. Make a nice dinner or if you can afford it go to a different restaurant than where you normally go out to eat. Celebrate you, celebrate the small differences that helped to quiet the negative voice and praise the positive voice. No matter what happened that you feel proud of you, stand up tall and celebrate it. Be proud of who you are, the accomplishments (no matter how small, because those small steps add up to big progress).

Each of us deserves to feel proud, and that starts within, it starts with you.

Do something kind for someone else today. It’s a great way to resist this madness.   – Scott Dworkin

When the news reminds us of dire situations. Social media designed for connecting us with others leaves us sad and depressed. The voices in our heads discourage us from pushing forward. I felt this quote gave a new direction of thinking. Maybe if the focus was less on the negative and more on empowering, being kind to another we can make a small difference.

The reality is we are all stressed out and sometimes it can leave us feeling helpless. Maybe if we take a deep breath, and open the door for the person behind us, buy a friend lunch, volunteer to feed the homeless or with a local opportunity in your community. These small efforts together will make a big difference. It gets us away from the chaos of digital influences. When we begin to connect face to face it allows to restore our faith in our fellow humans. It opens the door to discover there is good in the world and we can be a part of that experience.