Hello there beautiful.
Thank you for joining me today as we talk about strength,
What it costs us,
And how we redefine it for ourselves.
Let's start today with a deep breath in for 3,
2,
1.
Now hold it for 3,
2,
1.
Now exhale for 3,
2,
1.
So strength has been synonymous with us whether we've wanted it to be or not.
We are the teachers,
The visionaries,
The people who hold everyone else's fears alongside our own.
We're the ones who tend to our community,
Who think ahead for everyone else's benefit,
Who are confronted by choosing between rest or uplifting others.
I've been thinking about what strength means for myself and all the other amazing Black women who I know who are really doing their best to make the most of this one beautiful life that's been given to us.
I think about how we've been taught that our worthiness is wrapped up in being the nurturers for the rest of our society.
And it's exhausting.
If you're exhausting,
That probably means you're honestly doing it right,
Or at least by the standards of our society.
But today,
We're going to be thinking about what it means to do it right by your own standards.
What does it look like to redefine what strength means for you,
Particularly as someone who maybe hasn't been given the assumption of softness or datiness that our peers might have been given?
Think about a strength that isn't viewed from the point of what we can contribute or how we can lead,
Because that kind of strength,
It's freeing,
It's life-giving.
I want you to think about how you can feel instead of what you can do.
How can you incorporate ease?
How can you breathe a little bit more deeply,
A little bit more calmly,
A little bit more freely?
Maybe when we think about strength,
We can also think about versions of ourselves that include vulnerability,
Honesty,
And rest.
Not performance,
Not endurance,
Just peace.
If it's accessible to you,
I'd like you to put one hand on your heart and put another hand on your stomach.
We're going to take another deep breath in for 3,
2,
1.
Now hold it for 3,
2,
1.
Now exhale for 3,
2,
1.
Now I want you to think about what it feels like in your body to be at peace.
What does it feel like to know that you being at peace is something that could actually be celebrated,
Embraced,
And loved?
How does that feel for you right now?
Where do you feel that in your body?
I want you to let that feeling wash over you.
I want you to let it consume you.
I want you to let it nurture you the way that you nurture others.
It is my great hope that today is the beginning of you unlearning the things that have kept you maybe safe in the past,
But have also kept you untrue to yourself,
And I want you to shift towards being who you've always known you are.
You are someone who has space for the fullness of their humanity and their feelings,
No matter what others expect of you.
I want you to carve out that space for yourself,
However it is you need to do this.
You deserve this peace.
This,
This is your strength.
This is your beauty.
This is your intellect.
You deserve it all.
Go and get it,
And rest along the way.
Thank you.
