Checking in With Your Gut

The first Intro Night event took place last Wednesday.  I couldn’t sleep that night. Have you ever had an experience that made you step out of your comfort zone but you did it anyway and you came away from it feeling excited and energized? That’s what the Intro Night was like for all of us, including myself. I’ll be honest. The opportunity to lead a WomanSpeak circle came to me much earlier in the year. I would be taking over an existing circle so wouldn’t even have to worry about filling it right away. But I resisted. “I need to focus on taking portraits,” I told myself. “I don’t want to be distracted or diversify my business,” I believed. But like anything that was meant to be, it kept nagging at me until I finally decided to listen to my gut, which is how I try to live my life, and decided to start a brand new circle. The Intro Night confirmed for me what my gut was telling me all along…

Take a minute and check in with your gut. What is it telling you? Does the idea of learning to speak scare you? Does something in you realize that learning to speak is important to getting you to where it is you really want to go? What is it that got you to sign up for this list to learn more in the first place?

Witnessing women confront their fears and discomfort to get up to speak at Intro Night reminded me a lot of my own Intro Night. Being on the other side as a leader, I couldn’t help but remember how I felt as I watched woman after woman speak about worthiness, fear and love…and felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. What an amazing privilege it is to bear witness to women as they step out of their comfort zone, tackle their fears and begin to take steps towards who they really are. WomanSpeak isn’t about finding a voice that is somewhere, outside of you. It’s about looking inward to find the voice that is already there. It’s about getting into your body, your gut, and trusting it so that your authentic voice emerges. That’s what I do as a Transformative Portrait photographer…take you on a journey to see the amazing woman you already are so you can embrace yourself fully and step out into the world as your truest self. And that’s what WomanSpeak really is too. It is so aligned with what I do and I know in my gut this is part of my path and meant to be. Maybe you get that feeling in your gut too?

So, this Wednesday is the final Intro Night. Now is your chance to take that first step towards your true self…the woman who trusts herself completely when she speaks so that she can connect to those around her and make an impact on the world.

*Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.