Archive for authentic
Unfurl that Freak Flag!!
Posted by: | CommentsContrary to what you may think, your freak flag doesn’t have to be anything crazy, unless crazy is your thing!
Flying your freak flag is more about showing up fully and not being afraid to show the world who you are and what’s important to you. It’s about taking a stand and having an opinion and not being afraid to share and wave it about.
Flying your freak flag gives you the freedom to be who you are. No more hiding, making sure you say the right thing, and doing things the right way. That takes way to much energy-energy that you could use having fun and doing things that interest you.
I know- it’s scary to show up fully and wave your freak flag! You never know how people will react to it. People get offended so easily, but that’s not your problem.
Seriously…it’s not!!
You can’t control how people react to you and your opinions. Their reaction is not about you at all and is all about them. Not everyone is going to like you no matter what you do. So stop worrying about it. Be yourself; let the world see who you are; and live a kick-ass life.
One cool thing about flying your freak flag is that it makes it really easy for the people who resonate with your opinions and what you offer to find you. When everyone one is trying to fit-in and not offend anyone it’s impossible to know what someone stands for and who they are. It’s impossible to make a real connection with someone because there is nothing to grab onto. I think about it as one big beige blur….nothing stands out and catches your eye. You have to look really hard to determine what differentiate one person/ service provider from another.
Do you want to be part of the big beige blur or do you want to stand out and shine so your people can find you?
Here’s a fun exercise-Create your own freak flag!
Think about what you would put on an actual flag that would represent who you are and what you stand for. It could be anything. Think about the things that are meaningful to you that you would like to bring more of into your life.
My amazing and talented boyfriend made his own freak flag a few months ago.
Here is a picture of it- Pretty cool huh?
What do you think it says about him?
I’ve been playing with this idea for a while. I’d put a mermaid, with wild blue and purple hair and a corset on with a big vortex of creation swirling around her. She would be a wild child mermaid who manifests everything she desires. Teeheeha!
Play around with this idea for a while and let me know what you come up with. If you make one…send me a picture!!!!! I’d love to see it.
Where I Struggle to Fully Accept Myself
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve been thinking a lot about living authentically, and the magic that happens when you show up fully with people and just be yourself.
I call it “flying your freak flag”. When you fully embrace all of who you are, and are not afraid to hang it out for the world to see, amazing things happen. You find more opportunities to do the kinds of things that you love, you meet more of your right people, and you feel freaking fabulous. It also inspires other people to fly their freak flag too.
It totally Rocks!!!
Flying your freak flag doesn’t have to be anything drastic. It could be something as simple as wearing your favorite color all the time, or adding a bit of sparkly eyeshadow. I fly my freak flag by putting purple and blue streaks in my hair, getting tattoos, and wearing bright colors.
Underneath it all I fly my freak flag by fully embracing who I am, and not making myself wrong for being different. I do my best to love all parts of me….especially things about me that are not like everyone else or fit into the mainstreams ideas about what is “normal”.
I will admit that there are still a few things that I struggle with; like loving my body. I am certainly an extra-extra large person in a medium-large world. There is nothing like going cloths shopping to trigger my less than feelings! You see I’m not a classic Plus size women. I don’t have big hips and booty. I’m tall-5’10- with broad shoulders. I carry extra weight in my middle. It’s hard to find cloths that fit my chest and waist that aren’t gigantic in the butt and legs. Because of this shopping can be difficult for me.I have a hard time finding cloths that I feel reflect how I feel on the inside.
I do my best to love myself as I am. Even if I lost 30 pounds I would still be bigger than most of my friends, male and female. I have always hated having my picture taken with most of my friends because I look like a giant compared to them. Interesting enough, I like having my picture taken with my family because we are all about the same size so I feel better about the end result. I don’t stand out as much.
It’s interesting for me to notice this- I don’t mind standing out in most aspects of my life, but because I don’t feel good about my body, I feel better if I’m fitting in. Looks like I have more work to do around loving and accepting myself!
I’m curious to learn something about you!
What aspects of yourself are you willing to put out there for the world to see and which aspects are you still feeling like you want to hide?
Just so you know: I’m not a biker chick
Posted by: | CommentsEarlier this summer I was at a really cool event called I Heart My Biz and I got an opportunity to meet a number of women who I had recently been in an online program with. For the most part we had only interacted via the group site and class calls, so it was really cool to meet in person and give each other a hug.
Everyone was just as I had imagined them to be.
Funny enough, I seemed to be a bit of a surprise to a few of the women that I met. One woman actually came up to me and said that she expected me to be a biker chick and ride up on a Harley! She told me that I did not fit into the image that she had of me.
This brings up an interesting topic….the images and labels that people project onto you (or you to them).
How many of you feel that you need to live up to an image that someone has of you?
Who out there has felt trapped by a particular label that someone has put on you?
This is tricky stuff!
It is hard enough to be yourself to begin with, but it gets much more difficult when other folks begin to label you and cast you in a specific role.
When it comes down to it, someone else’s image of you has nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.
Let’s take the woman who expected me to be a biker chick. Because I am not afraid to show off my tattoos, and talk about having piercings, and I speak boldly about making your own rules, and creating your kick-ass dream life, in her mind, I must be a biker chick. That says more about her experience with life than mine.
None of those things define ME at all. The reality is that I am all those things plus a whole lot more. I can be shy when I first meet people, and a bit stand offish on crowds, and I have a soft vulnerable side that I also show. This is what was so confusing for this woman. I was not fitting into the image that she had of me.
I am so many things! I do my best to resist the labels that other people stick on me, and I try not to get caught up in other people’s images of me.
It would be really hard to grow and change and expand if I did.
It would limit my ability to be me.
Embracing Your Freakiness and Making Money Too
Posted by: | CommentsHere is an awesome guest post from one of the co-founder’s of the Freak Revolution.They are experts at embracing what makes them different, creating connections, and living a life that totally rocks!
I hope that you enjoy it.
I’m Kyeli, and I am a freak.
I’m gay, I’m a witch, I’m polyamorous, I’m fat, I’m covered in
tattoos, I’m a geek, I unschool my son, I have piercings, I’m a
writer, and I’m an entrepreneur. Oh! And I’m leading a revolution.
I’ve been persecuted for each flavor and for all flavors of my
freakitude. I’ve lost friends and family. I spent over a decade
hiding in the closet, trying desperately to appear normal, to be
something I’m not – to be many things I’m not. But in the end, the
lying and the self-deception proved too much for me, and I burst out
of all those closets and ran wild.
Figuratively. I’m not much of a literal runner.
Bursting out of all those closets was actually a very slow, gradual
process. I had to do a lot of self-work and discovery before I could
even crack the door, let alone start being open and loud about it.
But slowly, gradually, I got more and more secure in myself which
allowed me to get more and more secure in being out.
Now I’m out all over the place. My labels are all loudly proclaimed
in all my online profiles. I quit my desk job that was eating my soul
and started my own business with my lovely wife and cohort, Pace.
(She’s even more freaky than me!)
How do we make any money, being so freaky?
We’re open. We’re honest. We reach out to people and make
connections. We make time for people. We talk about our lives and
our journeys. And we focus on other freaky people.
If you’re freaky – even if you’re just a little freaky – you don’t
want someone who won’t understand you helping you. We can’t connect
with people we have nothing in common with, no matter our intentions.
So we open ourselves up and reach out to others like us, in some way
or another, so we can connect and help and make a living doing what we
love.
But I think the biggest secret is the most simple thing: we really care.
We really care about people.
We really care about helping.
We really care about connection, about self-growth, about making the
world a better and more loving place.
When you pour your heart into your work, people notice. When you fly
your freak flag, your right people will turn up – and your wrong
people will turn away. Stepping fully into yourself is the surest way
to success, no matter your path.
Bio:
Kyeli is the co-leader of the Freak Revolution (alongside her
wife, Pace), a community of passionate world-changers with alternative
lifestyles and more importantly, alternative mindsets. The two of them
are passionate about changing the world in ways that foster connection
over control, authenticity over conformity, and love over fear. They
have just released 52 Weeks to Awesome, a 52-week long course with one easy-to-implement mission
per week to help you be even more awesome!
