Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in Nature with me Liz Scott down at the quay in Exeter.
The River Exe as I'm just standing overlooking it is very very calm.
It's very peaceful just looking at the river and seeing the reflection of the buildings on the opposite bank in the water.
You can probably hear the sort of scurry of seagulls that are sort of scavenging in the background and the whole quay is just very slowly coming to life with cleaners getting out and clearing up after the night before.
Yesterday I was actually down here on the quay meeting a friend.
We had a sort of sunshine and showers yesterday and so every time the sun came out people came out and we were here with hundreds and hundreds of people down here on the quay and it was buzzing with energy and here it just feels this wonderful stillness as the morning starts to take hold.
And actually it was meeting my friend and meeting a couple of friends yesterday that has sparked today's conversation and it's about moving from a place of feeling invisible to feeling visible.
So what do I mean by invisible?
Well certainly as a woman in her fifties I've noticed a shift in the way that I turn up in the world and in the way that I am perceived in the world.
I realise that I can walk with a lot of anonymity which has its advantages.
When you're a youngster and you're young and heads turn and people want to chat there's a different energy.
So there's a real advantage in being an older woman and walking quietly through the world.
And yet there is also a disadvantage.
And the disadvantage as I see it is twofold.
For me,
And I'll share it and see if this resonates for you,
But for me as I've got older I've started to question whether I'm too old for things.
I'm too old to stand up in front of a group.
I'm too old to have a platform and speak my views.
People will ignore me,
I'm too old.
And because I tell myself I'm too old I disappear further into the background.
I remember teaching a group of people just,
It was after Covid,
And so this was one of the first teachings I'd done face-to-face for a few years.
And we had a group of people and I remember the noise in my mind,
This was a few years ago,
Thinking oh my goodness what have I got to say,
They'll think I'm a fraud,
They will see me as too old and irrelevant in their lives.
I really noticed that loud cacophony of dissent in my head.
And then I just turned up,
I spoke and I realised that the work that I share has a universal truth,
It doesn't matter how old you are as you share it,
You speak to people's souls and they respond.
And for me I've begun to realise,
And the pilgrimage that I undertook early this year and this sense of self-reflection that's been really important as well,
For me I've begun to that this is a time to step out,
Step out into what it is I want to be and share in the world.
It's different from as I was 10,
20 years ago,
But I still have value and I still am wanting to share.
And my assertion is there are people out there,
Maybe it's you too,
Who feel this sense of wanting to step out,
Wanting to share,
Wanting to be seen,
To be visible in the world once again.
And so when I sat down with my friend here on the exit of Quay,
Watching the river and the busyness of life,
That's what we were talking about.
She's a similar age to me,
We were just talking about what it is to step into your visibility,
To step into your presence,
To not shrink back,
To not turn the volume down on yourself.
It's not about pushing yourself or trying or being inauthentic,
On the contrary,
This is about stepping into your authenticity,
Stepping into your power,
Stepping into your voice,
Stepping into your way that you want to create,
Articulate and share in the world,
Whatever that might be.
And to actually step into that space.
So today is all about reflecting on invisibility and stepping into visibility.
What would it be like if you could step up and become visible in the world?
