We’re coming off an event filled weekend. We have a new president, the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons are going to the Superbowl and millions of women marched advocating for the advancement of women and girls all over the world.
My social media feed was anything but boring.
As I perused through hundreds of photos from the Women’s March, I was filled with excitement to see women standing as a united front. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but to think, “Will this excitement and empowerment trickle into our offices, schools, break rooms and relationships come Monday morning?”
I’ve personally experienced cattiness, competition and outright disrespect from women in the workplace – which was the seed that was used to inspire the birth of Embrace Her Legacy.
Before change or healing can begin, we as women, have to learn to acknowledge the parts of us that are wounded, hurt or frustrated. Those feelings of abandonment, rejection, betrayal or bitterness are valid but can be deceitfully masked with accomplishments, healthy bank accounts, education, corner offices, booming businesses, impressive social media influence and powerful relationships. Not only that but those feelings can cause us to feel like other women are competition, or an enemy – when in actuality there is room for all of us to win.
Coming from experience, there is no job, no amount of followers, no amount of money, no plastic surgery, no man, no amount of success that can replace what only God can do to heal you on the inside.
Bold statement isn’t it?
Well, I’m talking to you from experience. I struggled with low self-worth for years because I didn’t have a good opinion of myself so my validation came from the approval of others as well as the accomplishments I had. I believed that if I accomplished more then I would feel better about myself and my life would have meaning – not recognizing that I was already validated because God had already approved me. I didn’t need to do anything but I needed to focus on who I was becoming instead.
It wasn’t until I lost everything that I found meaning in, where God showed me that I was dope with or without the “things” or the “success” because He was enough. The toughest but most valuable lesson that I’ve learned in my life.
I was so focused on doing what I had been called to do instead of focusing on becoming the woman I had been called to be. Jim Rohn has a life-changing quote, “You attract success by the person you become.” So many of us want to look good on the outside but are crumbling on the inside. Some of us are still broken, little girls dressed in 20, 30 or 40 year old bodies.
How can we expect to prosper when we’re still riddled with fear, bitterness, anger or insecurity? This is why I’m adamant about focusing on prospering your soul first and then allowing everything else to prosper.
What’s your soul? It’s your mind, will and emotions. Your will is the ability to make your own decisions and is the most powerful component of your soul. Your emotions are the “lowest most unreasonable part of the soul but it exerts the greatest power in swaying your will.” Your mind will reason and rationalize in support of the emotion.
So I want you to be honest with yourself, are you pursuing your dreams because you want to use that success to cover up a wound? Who are you becoming on your journey? What’s the true motivation behind you achieving your goals?
If you focus on becoming a woman that people want to follow, then you’ll attract all sorts of good success in your life. There are successes that I’m experiencing now that I’ve been praying for for years to happen but if I would have received it back then, I would have sabotaged it because I had not become the woman I needed to be to maintain or manage the success.
Don’t underestimate the journey that you’re on because it’s molding you into the woman you need to be first, so then you can do what you were created to do. Focus on becoming and the success will come.
I want to help you with both. Not only am I here to motivate you to achieve your goals but I’m here to help you learn how to prosper your soul and become the woman you were created to be too. I want you to learn from all that I’ve experienced in the last few years where I lost money, relationships, comfort and too much more to even list. I’m not in the business of just helping your cross some tasks off your list.
Nope. I’m going to help you prosper your soul and I’m going to use that as the foundation to show you how to prosper in every other area in your life.
How?
Join me tonight Mon. Jan 23rd on Facebook live at 8pm ET and I’ll tell you 🙂
See you there!
XOXO,
Maria I. Melendez
@embraceherlegacy
