Using Our Voices
Slowing down has never been easy for me.
Life always seems to feel more comfortable when I'm in motion.
But there's a difference between being in motion and living life at full tilt, isn't there?
I've perfected the latter and in this season of my life, I am focusing more fully on integrating rest + spaciousness in to a schedule that makes my calendar look like a rainbow most days.
This weekend we're away visiting family and I am pausing while the kids are outside playing to share a quick story with you.
One of my most favorite things in the world is to turn the music way up in the car and belt out songs with our girl.
On Thursday afternoon, we were cruising on the highway jamming out to one of our favorite playlists.
It was one of those sunny, blue skies, open road kind of moments and I could feel the joy bubbling up all around me.
After an important week of learning, listening, resisting, raging, donating, sharing, leaning in, researching and supporting those who need our help...this moment was a welcome one.
As we flew up the freeway, I glanced in the rearview mirror and watched Anni feeling her way in to the song....eyes closed, fists pumping, head bopping to the beat...she was owning every note and every sensation coursing through her tiny body.
I watched her throw her head back and claim the words to the song...
"When I'm with you, I'm standing with an army...When I'm wth you, I'm standing with an army...."
And this moment got me thinking about you and me and all of our sisters.
It got me thinking about how through living in to our truth, falling down and getting back up and trying over and over and over again is the way we teach our little ones to find their feet and their voices too.
I've learned that the only way to find my voice is to actually use it.
I've learned that no matter how uncomfortable it feels to share my words in the world, to openly invite others to judge or disagree with me, I am also simultaneously helping others to free themselves.
And when there are others in the world who, literally, cannot use their voices, sitting on the sidelines with my heart beating out of my chest and staying silent is just not an option.
We are living in a world of opportunity to not only use our voices, but to join forces with a movement of love + light workers who are creating positive change in a time when the doorway to change is more open than ever before... and the need has never been greater.
We are leading a generation who needs us to say something, anything...without worry or want for it to come out perfectly right before we're willing to use our voices.
So I must ask myself, over and over again, what do I want to teach the little girl in the backseat?
And what do I want my work in the world to really be about?
What do I want this business I've birthed from dust in to dreams to do for the world it's operating in?
What am I ready and willing to let go of and step in to in order to be a true force for good?
If you're sitting in the and/bothness that so many of us are feeling right now, asking yourself things like...
How do I stand up for what I believe in without getting totally swept away by the enormity of the pain felt by those living in a world that is waking up?
How do I keep my feet on the ground when people I love don't understand what I'm so upset about?
How do I figure out how to use my voice when it feels like I am the only one who feels this way?
How do I use that voice to speak for my sisters and brothers whose own have gone unheard?
How do I help when I feel so totally help-less!?
You are not alone, but sitting in the in between of sheepish complacency isn't who you were born to be...so let's lock arms and begin right here, shall we?
Start right where you are.
Feel your feelings in the moments they call to you.
Stay educated.
Open your mind over + over + over again.
Donate (even a few dollars makes an energetic + physical impact)
Use your platforms to share what matters most of all to you.
Connect with friends. There is no doubt we are better together than we are apart.
Rest. Recharge. Pause. Take a break.
Question it all. Go deeper. Turn up rocks.
Hold hands. Embrace. Stay longer.
Enjoy your life. Celebrate the hell out of it.
Live in to your joy.
Give gratitude for what's here, what's been and what's coming.
Trade in shame and guilt for action, education + awareness.
Care deeply...without apology or abandon.
Your voice matters. Your feelings matter. Your dreams matter.
We need you out there, Love.
Keep going.
xo
Amber