My friend was celebrating her 21 year old son’s birthday.
She wrote that he is:
1agile 2brave 3brilliant 4charming 5clever 6creative 7curious 8determined 9discerning 10enterprising 11inventive 12keen 13logical 14neat 15passionate 16perceptive 17resilient 18sensitive 19strong 20talented 21witty.
I think that is a brilliant assemblage of qualities for a 21 year old. In fact, I think it is brilliant for any human being.
However, many women (and men) are most of these things until they begin to be grown-ups and listen to college tutors, colleagues, bosses, companions, what the Smiths and the Joneses say. When they do, they get trapped in the wants of others and get out of touch with their dreams and their life’s purpose.
- They belive they are not agile enough, so they give away their agility and stop thinking and innovating.
2. Cowards who name bravery as stupidity, pull them back from reaching their targets.
3. They dim their brillance as a caution for other peoples’ jealousy.
4. They don’t attempt tosincerely charm from fear of getting hurt, so they limit their desires.
5. They restrict their cleverness to petty exploits.
6. They stuffle their creativity because creativity is not scientific, which is the post-war society’s holly graal.
7. Curiosity is exhausted in social media posts over the lives of people who have dared to become themselves.
8. They lose their determination, waiting for the approval of their peers.
9. They stop being discerning because they expect others to determine what they should like, and think.
10. Being enterprising is replaced by canny tricks on human psychology and spending habits.
11. The inventors are giving in to the consumers.
12. Being keen has become synonymus to being naïve.
13. Logic is a muscle few people use.
14. Neat is for nerds.
15. Passionate equals illogical.
16. Being perceptive is applied solely to lipstick colors.
17. As for resilience, it equals low self-esteem.
18. Of course, being sensitive is not an attribute but a weakness.
19. Being strong equals brutal.
20. Being talented is provocative.
21. Being witty equals being insulting.
Do you identify with any of these?
Do you feel you have been stiffled, silenced, cancelled as a person by parents, spouses, community or peers?
Did life get between who you are and who you got on the way of becoming many moons ago?
It need not be that way. You can be all of these for your own happiness, and be a brilliant, exemplary human who cares for others, encourages them, serves them, and sets an example. Let’s help you get out of the drawer, get rid of conditioning, and find your power and your voice. I bet you will surprise us with a life worth living.