I am....worthy, resilient, and courageous!

"I am..........."

“I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.”

• Kurt Cobain

A recent movie trip prompted a blog post today that I had wanted to write about a few weeks ago.  When you think of the phrase, “I am….Steve!”, what movie comes to mind?  I won’t mention the movie for pure copyright purposes, however, there is a defining buzz recently regarding this movie and what all ages of people enjoy about it most.  Although we can be tied to who we are in life, one thing that comes to mind right away is who we are based on name only.  If I were to say the phrase, “I am Ryan!”, I may get a few looks of, “hey it’s good you know who you are, we know who you are too”.  It’s not uncommon for our society to be proud of who we are and where we came from, but in the event that I said this over and over and over again, it may get old and others may question if I really know who I am or if I simply enjoying saying my name all the time. 

With all that being said, I am pleased to present this week’s blog post, focused on the phrase “I am…”.  There are so many things in life that we could say who we are and what defines us, however, I’ve really thought deeply about the three things in life that I am and that represent me and I hope they resonate with you as much as they did with me.  I promise not to say “I am Steve” or “I am Ryan” more than once below and want to purely focus on what represents who I am as an individual in life.  We all have so much to offer those in life and my hope is that you’re continuing to walk your journey in life with grace, wisdom, and humility.  Here goes……

1. “I am Worthy!” - In order to state what I want to be in life and what my underlying life represents to those around me, I often go back to the simple phrase of “I am Worthy”.  No matter how many times in life I’ve been knocked down (and the number of times you’ve likely been knocked down in life), I get back each time stronger than before.  I can say that it’s very hard to get back up in life when you’ve been knocked down and I use this simple phrase to continue to tell myself that I am worthy of all that I’ve earned in life and will continue to grow into as my life evolves.  We all get so caught up in believing in ourselves and I truly believe that we have to believe in ourselves before we can believe in others.  Whether you’ve come from an underprivileged or privileged background in life, I’ll be the first to say that you matter and you have so much to offer yourself and others in life!  When you tell the word you are worthy, the world simply accepts you for who you and not for who you are not.  The next time someone avoids giving you a seat at their table or undervalues your worth in life, continue to repeat to yourself, “I am Worthy!” over and over and over again.  You’ve got this and have so much more to continue to achieve in life!

2. “I am resilient” - Life has been moving so fast lately and some days, I honestly struggle with keeping up in life overall and taking moments to reflect on what i’m learning most in life.  When we think about all of the energy that a typical day requires of us, it can be exhausting to think about how we’ll not only make it through the day and/or stay consistent in how we show up for others in life.  Resiliency to me means that you bounce back from your challenges faster than before and you don’t let the way that an outcome resulted to influence the way you choose to handle that same situation going forward.  When I’ve had times in life that I doubted my abilities, I had to dig deep for my inner strength to keep going and I had to lean on my own strengths and abilities to get from point A to point B in life.  Taking a step back, think deeply about your own strengths, what you do best in life, and use that as your motivation to show others that you can and will achieve your goals even if you don’t knock them out the first time.  Resiliency also shows you that can be better than before, improve over time and see the glass as half full through each and every situation in life.  As others continue to challenge your strength and abilities in life, remember that only you can control how quickly you bounce back from something or how you choose to influence yourself and those around you.  Always remember that others are looking towards your resiliency to gain permission for their own struggles and challenges in life.  When you come back stronger each time, it can be extremely motivating for them to show their own moments of inspiration.  You are influencing so many in life even when you don’t think you are.  Keep going in life because you’re doing such an amazing job!  

3. “I am courageous” - The final “I Am” phrase is something that I hold very close to the vest and it has become a part of my daily life, both personally and professionally.  Courage is showing up to do the work even when you don’t feel like you can go on any more, or those times where others doubt your true abilities, not giving you any chance for success.  We all have those moments in life where we don’t want to get out of bed, don’t want to go on in life, and don’t think that we matter to anyone around us.  I’m here to say that when you show your courage in life, you become an even stronger influence for yourself and those around you.  Courage means that you’ll fight the good fight and be a positive servant leader for others even when they’ve given up on life themselves.  The courage to lean into your own difficulties in life and strive for a better tomorrow will help you to continue to succeed in life.  We are all tested both directly and indirectly by those around us and our insecurities can sometimes get in the way.  Others are anxiously awaiting for us to fail in life so they can feel better about their own insecurities.  When you face these types of moments in life, tell yourself that you can and will be successful in life and your courage will help you grow in so many ways.  Your courage will take you so far in life and I’m proud of you for embracing courage to do the hard things every day!

I hope that today I’ve inspired you to greatness and leaning on your biggest strengths in life.  I know that each and every one of you who read this blog post are going through challenges in life, whether they are small or large.  You always have a safe space for sharing with me and I welcome any on-going feedback, sharing of your courageous moments in life, and also reaching out if you ever need a second set of listening ears.  You all are so, so amazing and I’m honored as always to be able to share my life passions with you!

Keep growing and know that I truly believe in you always!

• Ryan