"Big, Bold, and Creative..."

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Shared by Kristina Smedley

‘Imagine’… one of my favorite ways of being… and the chapter I just finished in Glennon Doyle’s book, "Untamed."
 
It also made me think back to an uncomfortable moment in the People Council meeting I lead last week in my corporate job...
I popped up a slide titled "Big, Bold, and Creative" and encouraged my colleagues to join me in standing up to discover and take action in order to build a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization.
 
Immediately, I felt self-conscious… "Big, Bold, Creative"… these aren’t really the words of our corporate world.
 
Immediately, I recalled past "coaching" that I was being too soft.
That I needed to be more firm and decisive in the words I used.
But what would I have said instead… "Strategic, Aligned, Initiative"??
 
NO, that’s not what I am going for. I’m not looking to do another initiative like all the others, buried in bored and unenergized words, people, and actions.
 
I’m kicking off something new… where we dream together of doing something Big, where we are courageous enough as people and teammates to be Bold, and the actions we take are Creative as we discover and explore how to bring our dream of a diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization to life.
 
I noticed in myself the desire to use my voice of imagination, to use words that paint an image of what I’m imagining. And then immediately I noticed my judging of myself and assuming that others were judging me too because I didn’t use the words of my indoctrination.
 
Ladies, we know this indoctrination, or at least we can become more aware as we pay more attention… it’s the indoctrination of how we should speak, how we ought to show up, how we should present ourselves, what’s right and what’s wrong, that we’ve learned through our cultural upbringing, our education, and our experiences in the corporate world.
 
If you haven’t noticed this yet, join me in starting to pay more attention. Join me in noticing when you desire to use your own feminine voice and share your own feminine ideas and dreams with the words that feel right to you.
 
Join me in realizing that the only way we will create the lives we dream up, is to start using our voice of imagination that is filled with the words we choose to use to tell the story and paint the picture of the life we choose to live… without guilt, judgment, or fear.
 
As Glennon says, "We must unleash ourselves and watch the world reorder itself in front of our eyes." Time to start unleashing.
 
✨Ladies, if you haven’t read it yet… it’s a must. It’s real, it’s raw, it’s authentic and absolutely beautiful… in a way that makes you think, cry, laugh, and see yourself more fully.✨
 
#CourageouslyListening

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