by Marianne Clyde
I’ve been so privileged to disrupt the status quo in so many ways and it’s just because I started saying to myself, “Hey, I can do that!”
And doing what you used to think you couldn’t sends a feeling of complete freedom through your body!
The excitement and pride of publishing 3 bestselling books, and counting.
The proud moments receiving awards for accomplishments over the years.
The exhaustion, terror (I’m afraid of heights) and magnificent sense of accomplishment of sitting on a rock at Mt. Everest basecamp after climbing 17,600 feet.
And the joy of seeing my kids to grow up into fabulous adults and have kids of their own despite all the mistakes I made trying to be “the perfect mother,” by trying to be what everyone else thought I should be.
The question I often ponder is, “Why on earth did I spend so much time being worried what everyone else thinks, when all the time, they were even more insecure and scared than I was?”
And how can I lead women just like me to break through all that conditioning?
Spending over 30 years as a psychotherapist, I see how women are still shackled by the expectations of others, societal conditioning, self-doubt and weariness.
But then, I step outside at 5 am in the cool morning air, breathe in deeply and look up. There, above me and slightly south in the sky. Is the constellation, Orion.
I see him as a warrior and protector, offering comfort in his familiar and steady presence.
Even in my travels around the world, when I found myself in Sierra Leone, West Africa, listening to child soldiers share with me, the horrors of war and the trauma they’ve endured, when the heaviness and sadness threatened to overwhelm me, I looked up and saw Orion watching, protecting, re-assuring; and I felt peace.
He showed me that the world is not so big after all. We are not so different.
And since then, I’ve learned many other lessons from him, that demonstrate that we are not alone. We really are related to the stars and are destined, as women, to shine our brightest, even as we age.
He’s actually my “Disruption Mentor.” His little hidden secrets reveal to me how powerful women are. And how we have allowed our brilliance to be hidden under a blanket of limiting beliefs for so long. He shows me that our time is NOW.
Because that’s how we are going to change the world. A community of women, older, wiser, wealthier, full of knowledge and experience, carrying long-held unrealized dreams that need to be pulled out and dusted off.
Those dreams, that strength, and hard-earned wisdom, pulled together and released on the earth is going to raise the energy on this old planet and bring the creativity, and joy and love that’s been missing.
We are the secret weapon.
Action Step: Think about what gift you have that you’ve been keeping under wraps because of fear, intimidation, self-doubt. Write out what it would feel like if you actually let it squeak out. Do it.
