Girl, Pay Attention!

I engaged in another opportunity to "work" on me this week.  My good friend, Laurie, and I went to the "event" Made for More, a movie/documentary by Rachel Hollis, author of Girl, Wash Your Face.  The piece included many inspirational clips from an event called "Rise," that she and her tribe put on each year.  

Rachel seems to have it all together as she preaches, teaches, and cheers the women who flock to hear her wisdom.  But she professes that she is a hot mess, in fact, beginning the first chapter of her book describing how she wet her pants in front of other people while jumping on a trampoline.  My kind of girl!  (No, I haven't had that happen ... yet!)

I found the movie inspirational, and reminded me of a lot of the lessons she talks about in Girl...  Except, for me, once I've finished a book, I tend to forget about it.  I pledge at the time, while sopping up ideas and strategies, that this book will make a difference, but then life interferes again and I end up going back to old habits.  But Rachel's message rings so true and I want to share a few of my takeaways - knowing full well that others may have interpreted the experience differently.

1. Drink half your weight in ounces of water.  I love water, I do!  But when I get busy, I forget to drink it - and when I'm working I have to be careful not to drink too much because I am locked in the classroom!  But I think I will find a pitcher that can hold my daily dose of water and keep it where I can see it, as a trigger.  This is just common sense and I should be able to achieve this goal, right?

2. Take care of your body.  You can't do anything if you're not fit and strong, so get it together.  Yeah, this made me jump out of bed on Tuesday to go walk my 2 miles, only to find it was raining.  That and we had someone coming to the house to give us an estimate ... Yeah, I'm weak.   I am still searching for both motivation and just the right type of exercise (or exercises?) that will work for me.  I carry a lot of shame with that one.

3.  Stand up for each other as women.  This one hit hard.  Rachel had women check off from a list all of the things that were true on a nasty laundry list of feelings, conditions, and experiences.  There were some tough "truths" on that list ...  from being abused, to feeling inept, to hating the way you look.  It took bravery just to fill it out, but then the papers were collected and passed around so that no one knew whose paper belong to anyone.   As the list was read, women "stood up for their sister" to help acknowledge that we are not alone in our struggles.  Rachel also preaches to stop judging and support each other - but, at the same time, surround yourself with your tribe.  

Sadly, I think I am guilty of judging others.  I think we all do this to some extent - but not in a malicious way.  I think we are judging to see where we fit in, where we stand in the world of _________ - fill in the blank.  It is a self-esteem building activity to help us feel good about ourselves.  "Oh look at her. She's not a good mother.  I'm better than her."  Or "She's so fat she makes me look skinny!"  Nonsense shit like that.  But since we share so much in common with our sisters, we should be supporting one another, not knocking them down, even if the harmful words are never actually spoken.  Honestly, I would love to stop competing with my ideal of what I should be - and stop comparing others to my ideal.  We never know someone's back story - and that can make all the difference.  Once we hear someone's hard luck story, everything makes sense and we are at once sorry for thinking those nasty thoughts.  But I'm going to try to live my life without judgement now - and pretend that I already know the back story.  After all, everyone has a story that we know nothing about, and the best thing we can do is support each other with no conditions.  I want to grow my "tribe" and help them to be their best, as I would want them to support me.

Now, I think I will go back and reread Girl, Wash Your Face -- and take some notes!  And then, just maybe, pay a bit more attention and start implementing the ideas I jive with.  (And then I'll be ready for her next book coming out in March!)

Let me hear from you!  Are you guilty of judging?  Do you seek a great tribe?   Try this - give a complement to another woman today... someone you don't know.  You'll feel great - and so will she.  Let's lift each other up, Girl!