I mentioned a few weeks ago that one of the people who inspires me most is a young woman called Mustang Maddy. She is a horse trainer and gives instruction and offers all kinds of interesting tidbits on her Facebook page. We follow her monthly subscription (which has more information than her regular page) to learn the most we can.
This was an entry she wrote a few days ago, and one posted today, that I found particularly encouraging, as it is a very vulnerable feeling to open up our barn and way of living to the critique of outside world.
She is so wise for her young years.
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May 28, 2017.
Be Real Not Perfect.
To be real is to be vulnerable..
To be vulnerable is to let your TRUE self be seen.
To be vulnerable is to have the COURAGE to be imperfect..
To be vulnerable is to be BEAUTIFUL.
It is so easy these days to filter and edit our lives on social media to a perfection that is unattainable. We choose which parts to show, and we show the parts that make us look best.
The perfect look, the perfect horse, the perfect car, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect job..
It’s the "perfect life."
Sure, this may make us feel better about ourselves as the likes rack up, but how shallow is that approval!? How can we base true meaning of our lives off that?
And more than that, what is its effect on others following our journey?
I had a young girl get her picture taken with me the other day, and after her mom showed it to us for the girl’s approval, she said something like “Ugh, I look so ugly.”
This broke my heart..
Why do we continue setting unrealistic standards for these girls?
They see perfectly installed hair extensions and say, my hair sucks. It’s too thin. It’s too short.
They see perfectly applied make-up and they say, I have terrible skin.
They see the perfect body, and they say, I’m fat.
They see you and they say, I’m ugly.
I’m not good enough. I’m not pretty enough.
I am not worthy of love.
Too many people— including those we look up to— sacrifice reality for perfection.
The reality is that your beauty doesn’t lie in hair extensions, make-up, the perfect body, etc..
True beauty lies in imperfections and the courage to show them openly to the world.
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June 4th, 2017
The 3 Ways to Ward off Negativity
I recently posted about what it is to be vulnerable. Continuing along with that theme I want to talk about handling the criticism you will face once you find the courage to "put yourself out there"..
You see, if you begin to gain positive attention and admiration after putting yourself out there, you will also need to be willing to deal with the bad-- the criticism, the keyboard warriors, the cyber bullies..
But it's hard.
Because you can read through 200 comments and if 199 of them are positive and 1/200 is negative, take a guess at which one you will really remember..
At least it's easy to fall into that trap! I can't begin to list out the names I've been called, the rumors that have been told, and the preconceived judgement that has been made about my life and my work.
It can be a struggle to nourish the sensitivity that led to your creative success while at the same time somewhat harden in order to ward off the negativity..
So how do you handle it?
I think there are three big things for me that hopefully will help you guys too.
1. Don't take it personally
What you don't realize is that everyone has their own stories-- their own motives, patterns, and history-- that may express itself in an attack on you that actually has nothing to do with you!
2. Let go of what you know to be false.
Words can't hurt you if you dismiss them as false. If someone told you that you had blue hair, but you know you have blonde hair, then that wouldn't necessarily make you feel bad about yourself would it? Rather, you would ride off their ignorance because you know their labels to be false.. Just as if someone attacks you as a liar, stupid, etc. and you know this to be false, their words lose their power. But when you are left questioning their claim's validity, and in turn your self worth, is when their words can gain power over you.
3. Don't live to please others.
You have to be living out your passion in an attempt to fulfill what you believe to be your life's purpose; if you are living to gain approval or popularity, you are destined for failure from the beginning because it is simply not possible to please everyone-a lesson we must all learn!