Brandy Butler (Middle) & Sherica Matthews (Right)
I spent this past weekend in St. Louis attending Brandy Butler’s “Package Podcast Profit” intensive workshop. I was excited to attend the event as an instructor to share my expertise with the attendees, but I had no idea how much of an impact this experience would have on me.
Although I’m always encouraging others to celebrate their wins, I realize, in some ways I still struggle with fully celebrating my own wins. I feel comfortable sharing with my inner circle, but I often shy away from sharing it with larger groups of people. I find myself adding disclaimers because I don’t want to come across as if I’m bragging or being boastful.
So where does this come from? Why do I struggle with this? This past weekend, one of my mastermind group members shared something that resonated so much with me. She referenced the little girl inside of us who sometimes whispers in our ears and causes us to second guess, shrink back, and minimize our accomplishments.
My little girl got in the habit of not boldly sharing a lot of her accomplishments because she didn’t want to make other people feel bad or uncomfortable. This stemmed from some childhood experiences where people made me feel I allowed other people (not family) to make me feel bad for being intelligent, resourceful, likeable etc.
Although I’ve gotten past those experiences , I realize that I still carried some of it into adulthood. Many of my friends refer to me as the “quiet storm” and while I like “working hard in silence and letting success make the noise”, I often don’t even want to call attention to those successes.
As I stood in front of the ladies to share my expertise and experience with blogging for business and selling and marketing physical products, I made the decision to not be modest or try not to sound boastful. I made no apologies for being great at what I do.
I made no apologies for my accomplishments. I made no apologies for being smart or resourceful. No apologies and no disclaimers. As a result, not only was I able to show up and own the greatness God placed in me but by telling my story, the ladies who attended felt empowered to do the same as well.
I silenced that little girl in my head by telling her, “be quiet, and let me be great”. After all, God did not bless me with all these skills and talents by accident. I gave myself permission to shine, bright, without adding disclaimers or making apologies.
YOUR TURN: Can you relate? Do you have trouble owning your greatness & celebrating yourself?
I am so glad you retweeted this on twitter today! I needed this post. I need to tell her “girl, bye”! lol
Yes, yes hush little girl! We as women have a tendency to hold back or feel like we are showing off if we share our successes with others. Im also learning to share more, God is giving me confirmation everytime I open my mouth now at least 1 lady but mostly several thank me for being inspirational and encouraging them to achieve the same. God did not give us our testimonies and set us on this journey to keep it a secret. You and Brandy are awesome and I know all the ladies involved left there truly filled. ????????
Yes so true. Thank you so much Tanieka, we have to speak up and shine bright so that he gets the glory! Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
First of all I love the title of this post! I think we all have that little girl who makes us second guess ourselves but most of us don’t check her. I love that you’re stepping out sharing your gifts and in turn expanding. It’s a beautiful thing to witness. <3
Thank you Adanna. Yes, girl we need to put her in her place. As we say in the Caribbean “children need to stay out of big people business”