Take Up Space, Live Out Loud, Enjoy the Joruney

I’ve been thinking and writing about this a lot recently; about progress, about doing the work, about commitment to personal change.

Sometimes people on the outside looking in might try and belittle your accomplishments, question your new energy, or make you feel bad for showing up differently than you used to. Sometimes they’ll even try and provoke the old you out of you. People will doubt your authenticity, your qualifications, your gifts and talents, your testimony. But the heart of it is this: no one knows your story the way you do, no one knows the obstacles you’ve had to overcome the way you do, no one sees, or experiences, the messy, chaotic, in betweens the way you do.

This is why you, more than anyone else, have to believe in yourself, your worth, your vision. Why you have to be committed to your peace and to your joy and to your dreams. Why your inner voice of passion, drive and determination has to be louder than the judgement, negativity, and projection of naysayers. The journey isn’t easy, but it’s yours alone to walk. And if you can find a way to honor, and celebrate, each and every step on the path, regardless of whether anyone else does, you will discover a resounding sense of acceptance, belonging, and confidence within yourself. You’ll realize it was only ever about creating a life that feels good to you. About living and growing and changing and discovering newness within both yourself and the world around you; new fun, new knowledge, new beauty, new love. It's about feeling fulfilled in your own soul. It’s not about proving yourself to anyone else. It’s about understanding and owning who you were, who you are now, and every incredibly fascinating and unique version of yourself along the way.

Take up space. Live out loud. Enjoy the journey. Celebrate change. Be the new you boldly.

It’s okay if they don’t get it.

You know how far you’ve come. You were there with you every step of the way.