Big Brave Beautiful

It’s Thursday!  And as promised here I am to tell you about the theme of my latest adventure!

Back when I thought I wanted to be a coach for a minute (oops), I was planning a workshop (eCourse, eBook, whole shebang–and heck–it still might be…) called Big Brave Beautiful.

Why Big Brave Beautiful?

Well, there are a lot of reasons… first probably because we teach what we need to learn, eh?  I didn’t come up with the words myself.  My beloved did and shared them with me and I knew, as confronted as I was, that they worked.  Let’s break it down.

BIG—  Ouch, that word hurts.  “Bride of Frankenstein” and “Jolly Green Giant” were the nicknames of choice from the middle school boys who now I know were likely crushing on me because of my great hair (kidding, I did not have great hair then).  When shopping with my friends they would say things like “ugh!  they’re out of 7s, and why are there so many size 13s?  who wears a 13?  only fatties!”  (PS, I wasn’t fat, nor did they know–I presume–that all 6′ of me wore a 13).  Then there’s the ever popular “tall kids in the back” for every group photo ever taken.  At least I was used to hanging out back there before I started wanting to as a means of hiding my widening hips.  What big can mean, however, is authentic and authenticity is a necessarily ingredient for a satisfying life.

BRAVE— People say I am.  Tess Vigeland heard that from her loved ones too.  People tend to think it means you’re fearless… to me it means feeling the fear and doing it anyway.  And I can for a lot of things, and there are other places (many that I don’t even recognize yet) where fear paralyzes me.

BEAUTIFUL— It’s about so much more than what’s on the outside.  It’s even more than knowing  inner beauty when the outside doesn’t jive with societal norms.  It’s about seeing myself through the eyes of the people who love me.

The Big Brave Beautiful Story

I was the tallest kid in class since I could stand (or go to class). And I spent most of my youth hunched over trying to appear smaller — not realizing that my lowered shoulders were keeping my spirit small as well.

As an adult, having started to break out of the confining beliefs that told me to remain contained, I started asking others if they felt like they were living as large as they believed they were meant to — and nearly everyone had a story about staying small to try and fit in or please others. Whether being “big” was attributed to their body, voice, personality, presence, or even success — they were told one way or another that it was undesirable, imposing, distasteful, unwanted, or lacking in honor. And so they kept themselves contained.

This world needs us as the fullest expression of ourselves; to heal our own wounds, give our gifts, share our stories, and inspire others to do the same. 

Big Brave Beautiful is the way there because choosing to own your BIGness requires BRAVEry,
but it will be oh so BEAUTIFUL, baby (just wait and see)!

 

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Beginning Thursday, September 5, 2013 this blog will run a series of guest posts on the Big Brave Beautiful theme.  Contributors will be folks that I admire, whose stories have impacted me.  Some will have written pieces for you, others will make audio or video files, there may be an interview or two.

There contributions will range in theme and include, but aren’t limited to:

  • Using life transition as an opportunity for life transformation: In the moment their life was rocked they started rockin’ the best version of themselves.
  • Feeling the Fear and Doing it Anyway: They did (or continue to do) something that terrifies them. And learned about themselves and the world in the process
  • Laying it all out: Stories of vulnerability.  They said exactly how they felt, and it paid off (even if they didn’t get “what you wanted”)
  • Bravery how-to: They’ve discovered a surefire way to make scary things seem safer.  By engaging the right supports they’re able to take risks.  They’ll tell us how!

In reading, maybe you’ll be inspired to share your own Big Brave Beautiful story.  I hope you will.  I’d love to give you a platform for sharing it with an audience who craves to know the authentic you.

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