The ABCs of Self-Love N is for Natural

The ABC’s of Self-Love N is for Natural Be Yourself (Ralph Waldo Emerson) by Art by Erin Leigh The ABCs of Self-Love is a Blog Crawl hosted by  Molly  Mahar of Stratejoy. She believes in the transformational power of truly adoring ourselves and so do I. Find out more about  The ABC’s of Self Love Blog Crawl + Treasure Hunt here (you can win a free spot in the Fierce Love course!) A few weeks ago, I breathed deep, freaked out, made my husband and great friend read and re-read what I spent hours writing, breathed again, and hit the button to schedule  Yup. 3 Sign-Ups. (aka How I Screwed Up Majorly, and What Im Doing To Fix It). While I felt it was important to do, and I hoped it would start a much-needed discussion on how everyone doesnt make a million dollars when they launch a product/service (as well as revealing The (Wo)Man Behind The Curtain as opposed to The Great Oz herself ), I was scared to death of outing myself and my failed launch. I heard my Dad in the back of my head, who chastised me as a very very early blog writer for writing how many clients I was working with, as it disclosed how much money I was making. I heard my Vampire (thats what I call the voices in our heads that suck the good stuff outta us) saying that it would make lots of people run away from my Clubhouse, never allowing it to grow and not allowing that community to blossom. But th e more I heard those voices and the more I wrote and re-wrote that post (it literally took hours), the more I felt excited and scared. Excited and Scared is what I live for. When my clients describe feeling it in almost-equal doses, I start doing the happy dance. It always means that youre on the right track, which is not synonomous for Things Working Out or Being Wildly Successful. But it does mean that you care about whatever it is thats giving you that feeling, and thats somethings at stake.  More excited than scared probably means youre about to have fun, and thats great but theres nothing to care about there. More scared than exciting is what I call The Uh-Oh Feeling, and you should probably get outta that situation and how. But equally scared and excited?  It means youre guaranteed to learn, to grow, to take away and that is always The Right Track. If you go back to my veeeeeeeery first post (all the back in May 2008!) and follow the arrows to the next post and the next and the next, you might recognize my voice but not my vulnerability, not my honesty, not my uniquity. Thats cause when I first started blogging, I wore The Mask of a life coach. I cant tell people I have a corporate job and Im not coaching full-time! I cant tell people that I dont have things all figured out and that my life is less than perfect! I cant tell people that I dont have all the answers! Yup. I thought all those things and then some, and set about writing my early posts to Showcase My Expertise and Perfect Life.until I realized that my blog was so boring that I wouldnt even read it. I took off The Mask then, fell back on everything I learned as a struggling actor, and decided to no longer keep things to myself unless they were deeply personal or involved others whose feelings would be compromised by sharing whatever I wanted to say. It led me to, almost 3 years later, share  my boob cancer with you guys,  even. I mean, once thats on the table, you can talk about pretty much anything. And what have I gotten in return? Thank Yous. Virtual hugs. Lots of new friends. Appreciation. More Clubhouse members (were at 34 now!). Joy. A fulfilling, passionate business that has a strong foundation and the most amazeballs clients a lil ole creative career coach could ask for. A whole network of people who understand me, who support me, who cheer me on. The feeling that Im doing The Right Thing, that anything less would be cheating myself and everyone whos now come to know me, to read what I have to write, to buy what Im selling or work with me as a client. So, N is for Natural. For being Vulnerable. For Sharing. For being Unique. For Owning Your Story. For Trust. For Connection. For Showing and Telling. For Excitement and Fear In Equal Measure. For Removing The Mask. Really, my ABCs of Self-Love are more like NVSUOYSTCSATEAFIEMRTM, but well just call it Natural for short. -