Whew, ladies, I feel I have neglected you! It has been a little while since I’ve laid out some new pearls of wisdom before you (hehehe..heh…..hm…), but not to worry: I’m back!
In fact, I’m back in many ways these days. Many things have begun for me recently, which I hope they have for you as well. I’ve started trying things again. It’s common for me to come up with an idea for something I want to do – a business I want to start, a class I want to teach, a technique I want to learn – and then vet all the possible pitfalls before even attempting to try. Now I try things and then just see where they go. It’s a MUCH better way to function and has so many more rewards!
In addition, I’ve begun my Teen Life Coach training (YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!). This is the most exciting beginning of all! I’ve always felt a special connection with teens and young adults, and a strong desire to work with them and walk them through an incredibly confusing, incredibly difficult, and incredibly AWESOME time of their life. I’m now one step closer to that dream.
I’ve also started selling my artwork on consignment in a couple of stores in Denver (details TBA), and, as is the topic of this post, I’ve started boxing again.
In fact, tonight was my first night back. I tried to start last year a few months after my son was born, but I just wasn’t ready yet. That’s okay, by the way girls, to not be ready yet. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there are seasons for everything, and if the motivation and desire isn’t there, just give yourself some love and patience until it returns. It took about 9 months this time. 9 months that would have been far more miserable if I had beaten myself up everyday over my negligence. And anyways, in that time I discovered some other types of exercise and activities I really love that I would never have discovered otherwise.
Back to boxing. When I’m in that “place”, boxing is SO invigorating for me. So motivating. So empowering. I’ve long felt it is one of the best ways to bring a girl into a state of self-love, self-respect, and personal strength.
I was thinking about this on the way home and I came up with a new idea: I should teach Boxing Empowerment classes. I think boxing on it’s own can teach those lessons, but how COOL would it be to combine the physical workout with the vocal life coaching lessons? To say aloud, and shout to the world words of your own inner strength while exerting your energy towards living them at the same time.
As this idea percolated, I began building a dialogue. A speech or mission statement, if you will, that embodies the meat of what such a program could accomplish. I’d like to share that with you today in hopes that it will inspire you as much as it inspired me:
“You’re already good people. I don’t have to teach you that. You already know to be kind to others, you already know to consider others’ feelings in your words, you already know to give others respect. But no one ever taught you how to have unabashed, unapologetic respect for yourself. The respect to hurt someone else if you have to defend yourself. The right to be strong, the right to be tough. The right to own your body and do amazing things with it. The respect to allow you to be you. The respect to walk away from people who don’t play fair.
To choose to be powerful instead of being afraid.
There is no apologizing here. No hiding your strengths or denying your weaknesses.
This is a place to be real.
You are not allowed to play a role, you are not allowed to pretend you are anything other than who you are.
If you throw a good punch, you are going to own it.
If you feel awkward or strange or weak, you’re not going to flinch because that’s life and life isn’t about being perfect. In fact, life is precisely about not being perfect.
I know that’s not what your teachers say, or your parents say, or the media says, but that’s what we say here. Boxing is the place to learn to embrace imperfection. You will not learn to be perfect. You will not learn to do anything perfectly. You will learn to love being imperfect. And in doing that, you will begin to see exactly how amazing you are.
Here: “power” is not a bad word. “Power” and “woman” are not oxymorons. You don’t have to be nice. You don’t have to be sweet. Here you can be tough. Here you can be bitchy. Here you can express yourself, exert yourself, be as pissed off or deliriously happy as you want.
You don’t have to have a certain type of body here. Because everyone can box. There are no standards here, no crazy expectations, no ideals. You’re going to use your body in amazing ways, and you’re going to love your body because of it.
Most importantly, you’re going to let go of the way you used to think. You’re going to think in a new way, and you’re going to practice that every week. You’re going to forget everything except for your ability to believe in yourself.
And you’re going to kick some ass.
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