This is Matt. A very well loved gift from my neighbor and first friend, Dawn, for my 5th birthday. Keeping it real with me for nearly 50 years!
Welcome! Thank you so much for coming! I am just plain giddy about this opportunity to share my thoughts with you here, on this beautiful website! I am honored to collaborate with others who are as committed as I am to empower women, and educate and enlighten men, by sharing my own stories and struggles, sincerely, and sometimes with satire and sarcasm. You coming here, reading my words, it’s making a dream come true for me, thank you.
The compliments I appreciate the most have nothing to do with my appearance. Tell me how much you love my energy, tell me I’m hilarious, tell me you admire my style, but please, most of all, tell me I’m real. This is one of the most treasured compliments I’ve received. Real. Relatable. Authentic.
Real isn’t how you’re made, it’s a thing that happens to you. ~The Velveteen Rabbit
There have been times in my life when I haven’t been. There are people who would say that who I am now is not the person they knew. They’re right. There are people who knew me but never knew me. I never felt safe to be my real, relatable, authentic self in their presence. That’s why I am no longer in their presence.
I’m committed to you, dear readers, and to myself, to the lovers and the haters, to be real and authentic, so to those of you who find me relatable, let’s get this party started!
When you are real, you don't mind being hurt. ~The Velveteen Rabbit
Being real, according to Miriam-Webster, is behaving or presenting in a way that feels true, honest or familiar without pretension or affectation. Huh? Pretension is a claim or right to attention or honor based on merit, according to the same source. Nope, no merit here, no accolades earned, just a girl trying to scatter seeds to help others, just a wretch trying to wrap my head around all the blessings and gifts in my life, just a woman trying to make some sense of it all. Affectation, a new word for me admittedly, is a speech or conduct not natural to oneself; an unnatural form of behavior meant especially to impress others. Nope, I got off that merry go round of people pleasing, if you’re impressed, come back often. If not, kick rocks. Kidding, kind of, if not, find someone who speaks a truth that you find relatable.
Being authentic is staying true to one’s own personality, spirit or character. I must warn you, my authenticity may sometimes piss you off, step on your toes or turn your stomach, it may also bring you joy, cause you to shout “Amen!”, or make us BFF’s. I’m hoping it will make you a loyal reader!
Being relatable is being able to show or establish to have a casual or logical connection to something or someone. Relatability offers congruency and alignment. It is a sense that I somehow got in your head as I wrote words that you feel to be true too. It’s a feeling of “Yes! Girl, yes!”
My mission, and I chose to accept it, is to open hearts and open minds. My purpose and life path were created on a foundation of love and acceptance with a dedication to foster healing through the skills, lessons and crafts that I’ve learned, as well as the gifts and arts that have been instilled and inspired within me. Now let’s get real!
Once you are real you can’t be ugly, only to those who don’t understand. ~The Velveteen Rabbit
Comments