A few years ago a dear friend sent me a card that read “You Are A Badass.” At first, I was not sure how I felt about being thought of as a “Badass.” Instead of taking ‘badass’ as a compliment, it had a bit of a negative connotation for me. I thought of a badass as someone who was a bit brash, that went through life speaking her mind without regard for the other person, was a rule breaker, rough, had a tough outer facade, and a lot of attitude. That’s not at all how I think of myself and candidly, at the time I was a bit mortified that that was the person I was projecting to others. I believe in being transparent, vulnerable, respectful, kind, humble and grateful. I tucked the card away but did not forget about it.
As you might have gathered from past blog posts, over the past few months I have taught myself how to swim. And as you might have picked up on, this was not an easy thing for me to do. I grew up with a loving mother who passed on a lot, including her extreme fear of water. As an adult I love being around water and yet had a huge fear of being in the water.
So, I set out in April with a goal of learning how to get comfortable around water. I started by attending a water aerobics class. Seems easy enough, but I mentally could not bring myself to go deeper than the 4 foot section for fear of water going over my head even though I’m 5’8”. However, over time I got more comfortable and started putting my head under water and the next things I knew I was using a float board and kicking my way to the deep end of the pool! I have worked on this all summer long, going to the YMCA every morning at 7:00 to practice doing laps and being comfortable in the water.
Then last week an amazing thing happened - I swam on my back… all the way to the deep end and back! I felt so proud of myself! Swimming on my back was the epitome of vulnerability in the water for me but I did it!
Then the lifeguard, who has been there nearly every day of my journey, stood up and yelled “Yeah! You Are A BADASS!!”
There it was, that word again, but this time I got it!
I have learned that being a badass really means recognizing my personal strength and leveraging it every day to accomplish what I desire, regardless of the consequences.
I was able to swim to the deep end and back because I was fueled by pure determination! This experience also made me realize that we do “badass” things every day, but do not take the time to acknowledge them, let alone celebrate them.
This leads me to today’s blog post. Every day I’m on a quest to take action on maintaining and enhancing my confidence. I believe confidence is a skill that we can learn and quickly unlearn if we are not vigilant. I do things like mantas to reprogram my internal dialogue, gratitude exercises to focus my energy on a life of abundance, vision boards to pursue my dreams with intention, and now I’m going to celebrate my everyday badass. I’m not going to save the celebration for the big accomplishments, but rather I’m going to recognize the little actions that reinforce my own purpose, dreams, path, and stick to them. I am also going to embrace calling myself a badass and repeat “I am a badass” to myself when I start to feel fear and self-doubt taking over. I have realized that the times I take action in spite of my fear and blindingly trust my own strengths, I have done some pretty badass things. I want to hear about your badass moments! Share them below so we can celebrate with you!
P.S. I now have that card on my vision board…because I am a badass! Thank you Alexia for recognizing my badass-ness before I did!
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