Have you ever felt afraid to stand in your own spotlight?
No matter how long I’ve been put putting myself out there, I felt awkward about showing myself standing next to an eight foot high billboard honoring my work. Why? I was embarrassed because it felt like too much me. Then I remembered that I spend tons of time writing that women need to be witnessed, to stand in the light of their accomplishments.
So, in case you missed it (and you must have since I didn’t send it!) here I am at the BlogHer2014 Conference, standing as tall as I can next to my article about two women who stood taller than I ever could — Irena Sendler and Nancy Wake — two magnificent and all but unsung heroines of World War II who deserve to have their stories told.
BlogHer2014 was a thrilling, affirming experience. So many women and men stood in solidarity to celebrate their expression and creative impulses, whether their passion was to write about health care, juggling family and career, sexuality, gender equality or politics.
We had a number of amazing speakers, Kerry Washington and Arianna Huffington among them. My favorite comment came from Ms. Washington, an actor and activist, who said “What other people think of me is none of my business.”
Ms. Huffington is a marketing genius who has learned the art of speaking in quotable, and very tweetable, sound bites. Here are two great ones:
“Stop glamorizing being busy…”
“Being tired is the new normal. We must change that….”
and my favorite…
“No is a complete sentence.”
Busy and tired are the norm for most of us. I can also relate to the feeling that no matter how much we do, in a tweet-able, rapid fire culture, we are not making a dent. But we are, just by showing up. So I leave you with one last quote Arianna borrowed from Rumi — one that I also plan to read every day to remind me to keep sharing my work, my feelings and my love with the world around me…
“Live life as though everything is rigged in your favor.”
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Anita Finlay is the bestselling author of Dirty Words on Clean Skin. “The book tells it like it is for women aspiring to power.” #1 on Amazon’s Women in Politics books for 16 weeks.
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4 Comments
Awesome! That’s how you look next to your billboard! And you absolutely deserved that award…
Cindy, very kind of you. I truly appreciate your support!
Congratulations, Anita! I agree with Cindy– you deserve to be awarded for the work you do. Enjoy the moment! 🙂
Thank you, my friend.