Dear Women Everywhere,
There is a Morgan Harper Nichols quote that has been resonating within my soul like a prayer or mantra, and it reads, “May peace, like water, fall heavy on my soul, reminding me in chaos I am living. I am whole.”
In the chaos that we are facing today, I find that my peace has been finding out who I am and learning to love her more than I could have imagined.
When I say finding myself, I don’t mean the ideological “coming of age” tale that nearly every teen movie portrays. Instead, I am investigating the most hidden parts of my soul. I am figuring out the best practices to care for myself when it seems nearly impossible. I’m finding new music that I never would have known existed.
Quite simply, I am pausing with the world and letting the nature of my heart to run rampant through the rest of my soul.
Even more importantly, I am learning to grow with what makes me glow.
This is one of the most imperative life lessons that I could have ever learned. I’ve always tried to fit in the box of who others assumed I was, and I have never taken the time to be who I am and who I am meant to be.
Sleeping At Last has one of the most beautiful songs about self-love, and it is one of the most romantic songs I have ever heard. In “Turning Pages,” one of the lyrics reads as “I surrender who I’ve been for who you are.”
“I surrender who I’ve been for who you are.”
Those nine words are the most powerful words I have ever come across. When I relate it to the idea of self-love, it means that I am choosing to give up forcing myself to be someone else. I am choosing to ignore the outer voices of everyone around me who believes that they are worthy enough to define who I should be. I am choosing to ignore the negativity that I have allowed to outline the idea of my self worth.
Instead, I accept who I am and I love her.
I am learning what makes the most hidden depths of my soul radiate with energy bright enough to match that of the sun.
Throughout my life, I have been told who I am and who I am not. I’ve been told that I shouldn’t wear certain clothing or listen to certain music or artists. I spent a year and a half of my life being told by someone else who I should be in order to accommodate them.
Since I’ve moved past that time of my life, I have grown so much.
I was so unaware of music that moves me in such different ways. I was so unaware of my own aesthetic and how adding a few decorations that fit it can change how at home I feel in my own space. I was so unaware of how taking as much time as I need to take care of myself can allow me to discover new things about me.
And I am glowing and growing more than ever because of this.
So, to all women everywhere, I urge you to resist the mold that others may put you in. I hope that you leap at every opportunity to learn something new about yourself. I encourage you to take this time of solitude to explore the seemingly hidden parts of you and find things that make you glow.
Find what makes you so undeniably happy that others can feel your energy when you share it with them.
Grow with whatever you find that makes you glow. That is how you will find yourself. This is how peace will fall heavy like water on your soul.
All the best,
Gabby