I just finished reading Jen Sincero's 'You are a Badass' as recommended by the beautiful Nik Toth who I had the pleasure of working with recently in preparing my body for walking down the aisle. I have also recently signed up for Domonique Bertolucci's Brilliant Life Academy. These are but three examples of women dominating in their field.
Driven, enlightened, motivated and unrelenting. These women are not only inspirational, they are real. They know that, regardless of how goal-focused they are that they will have times when they waiver. What matters is that you rebound. Whether it be eating something that puts you behind in your body goals, making a bad financial decision or letting the crappiness of life affect your internal happiness, these women know how to bounce back up. They accept that they are human or that things sometimes don't quite go according to plan, remind themselves of their intention, stand up and own their actions and refocus.
Resilience is abundant in nature. A tree subjected to unrelenting onshore winds doesn't give up, it grows on with a bend in it's trunk and serious fiber thickening on the windward side and softer tissues on the leeward. Acacias perish in fire but their soil seed bank laid down over years are scoured by fire and sprout with vigour following fire. Hakea have a near hundred percent mortality rate in fire but their hard woody seed capsules open in response to smoke, ensuring they reseed the naked ground following fire taking full advantage of the high nutrient ash environment. Scrape the ground in the Australian desert (bulldozer lines as a fire-break are a good example) and a year later orchids will bloom en masse. A fern seed that lands on the side of the building finds water dripping from a leaky roof and sprouts, its roots breaking through the mortar and holding on tight. Mushroom spores will bloom through asphalt, cracking it and pushing their little fungi through the coarse coating.
Plants are bad asses. They see an opportunity and they go for it. They grow and bloom in the most hostile environments.
If plants can do this, surely humans can too. Let's all become the bad ass that lives within us. We all have a gift to give. If we give it with as much tenacity as the fern on the side of a dilapidated building imagine how amazing the world would be. Find your inner fire and pursue it with unforgiving energy and enthusiasm. The world needs it but most of all you deserve it.
And this applies to me too.
