My Commitment to You, to Myself, and to My Story
Thanks to my friend Allison Nazarian, I am making a new commitment – to you, to myself and to my story.
Allison made a commitment to write every day of the week. No matter what. Even when she has nothing to write.
When I learned about Allison’s commitment, I found myself saying longingly, “I want to write every day.”
But I didn’t. Not until now.
Truth is, I’m scared I won’t uphold the commitment, and I’m scared that somehow if I do I won’t get it right. Whatever the hell that means.
So I’m not going to worry about getting it right. I’m just going to write. Five days a week. Monday through Friday, until it’s time for a new commitment. I figure I’ll know when that time comes.
I hope what I write will be interesting to you and helpful to you. I am here because I want to make a difference in your life. But I’m going to write for me, like Allison does, because that means I can write without judgment, without wondering (and worrying) if I am saying the things you need to hear.
In the meantime, I hope I say a whole lot of things you need to hear and want to hear. Things that you have been CRAVING to hear.
Things that you relate to because we’re alike somehow, on a similar journey even if we aren’t in the same place on that journey. Things that you relate to because you are the reason I was given this story to share in the first place.
This won’t be for everybody, but I promise you’ll know if it’s for you. And you have been patiently waiting for me to share my story, whether you know it or not.
- Make some sense of things that don’t make sense.
- Realize that life doesn’t have to get so damn serious just because you’re growing up.
- Be more positive, hopeful and resilient when things don’t seem to be going your way.
- Be more compassionate and understanding in your relationships – with yourself, your friends, your family and even strangers.
- Create a life of fun, freedom and fulfillment even in the midst of the growing expectations and responsibilities of college, the real world and adulthood.
- Show up as YOU, completely, truthfully, confidently and without apology.
- Not take things so personally and stop being so damn hard on yourself.
- Stop settling, even if it means getting outside of your comfort zone (and it will!)
- Realize how normal you are. 🙂
What I plan to share here is based on all that I’ve learned as I’ve woven my way through my own journey of self-discovery and personal truth. The journey has and continues to be haphazard and a bit messy, so the writing of the story probably will be too.
Most of what I write here will be my own understandings and opinions from what I’ve learned about myself, life and others along the way. Some of it, on occasion, may be backed up by research and other already credible sources, but mostly, it’ll just be my story.
And odds are, all or most of it will ultimately weave back to the topics of truth and Emotional Intelligence, because these are the things my journey has taught me are the answers.
Some of you will like what I share here and some of you won’t. I’m okay with that. I have to be. Either way, I hope you’ll all keep reading! And I hope you will get involved by sharing your story too.
When a post resonates with you, creates an a-ha moment or whatever it is for you, let me know — and let others know too. And when you don’t agree, that’s cool too. Just play nice with your comments.
So here we go. This is my story. And I am DELIGHTED to finally be sharing it with you.
See you tomorrow!
Shannon
P.S. Sometimes my writing will be directed more toward the young people I ultimately hope to reach. Other times it will be directed more toward the adults responsible for educating and developing those young people. (To the latter, one of my favorite things to do is to help you be HUGELY successful at your job! Shoot me an email at shannon@girlsgetreal.com to find out more.)
P.P.(and most important)S. This is a safe place. No judgment, just truth as best we can see it. Sometimes that truth may feel a tad brutal, at least at first, but it will always come from a place of love and compassion and be delivered with the goal of creating an end result that offers more clarity and freedom. That’s just the way we roll, and we SO want you to roll with us!
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Want to hear my thoughts on a particular topic or struggling with something and want to know my take on it? Use the Ask Shannon feature on the website to ask me a question and I’ll respond to it personally!
And remember, we’re all about sharing here, so take a minute to Comment, Like, Share, and Tweet!
We love you already, and with this little extra step, we’re very likely to love you even just a little bit nope, make that a whole lot more! And we say THANK YOU!
Yay you, that is awesome! Some days it is wonderful and easy and others it is a drag and you wish you could do anything else in the world but write. Best advice is just do it. Don’t judge, just write. Don’t even think. Just do it.
I know you can! xx
Thanks Alli. In so many ways. For the way you show up and for the way you just do it too. 🙂 I hope you enjoyed the surprise. And man it sure pings fast that you knew about it before I even took those steps you mentioned of posting it to Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for the encouragement. I expect I’ll need more along the way. And please let me know how I can support you too! XX back at ya!
Love it. Re-inspires my commitments.