And a sparkling night of coming out, coming-of-age, and coming together.
Oh what a night! What an amazing group of women who showed up, the vibe, the connecting, support - it was epic!! 🥰
Generation Women launched in 2017 in New York and has also become a monthly Storytelling event in Sydney and Melbourne.
“Wising up over the ages” was the theme and I was honoured to be one of their storytellers last night to a sold out audience at The Beresford, in Surry Hills.
I’ve been telling stories as a speaker for most of my life, but never quite like this. This time, it was all about me, and deeply personal.
My story of growing up as a Pastor’s kid, coming out and my journey thereafter.
My story subtly speaks to topics like people-pleasing, perfection, belonging, turning down parts of ourselves to fit in, and moving towards living more authentically - truly showing up for ourselves, owning our story, uniqueness and our truth, even if it means disappointing others.
Last night was more than just telling a story. It was personal. Scary but liberating.
As Brené Brown says, “Shame thrives on secrecy, silence, and judgment. Shame can’t survive being spoken.”
Telling stories isn’t only about sharing “what happened”. When we’re doing it in this context, it’s a powerful vehicle for expressing, liberating and empowering ourselves to own our story.
It facilitates a coming home to, and a deeper belonging to self.
At the same time, when we share our story, listeners can empathise with us, relate and sometimes, our story of rising above can fuel someone else’s courage to do the same, to own their story, to stand up for themselves, or take some kind of positive action in there own lives.
Courage is contagious.
Obviously we can use storytelling in business for a different purpose. But last night wasn’t business, it was personal.
While I have much more wising up to do, for now, I’m pretty damn proud of this one, big moment in time where I put my big girl pants on, and spoke up for me - and all the other people who have come out, and had a tough time of it at some point in their life.
When we truly own our story, uniqueness and truth, we don’t always fit in… but when we belong to self first - no one can ever take that away. And that’s when can do hard things, brave things, great things - not in spite of who we are, but because of who we are.
A massive shout out to the special friends and people who came to support me specifically last night. Having your support there meant the world to me. ❤️
P.s. All the colourful lights, the buzz and theatre style of the venue reminded me of my acting days. What a thrill that was! 🥰
Comments