How To Channel Your Inner Rebel
My Inner Rebel has never been a challenge to summon. We’re thick as thieves and have roused many rebellions in our 50 years together.
One super cool addition that has come on scene in the past few years is her sidekick…”I Don’t Give A *” (IDGA*). Now in some circles the * stands for “F” which I’m sure you can deduce stands for the four-letter word that causes some to tune out the message, so I won’t use it. I’ll stick to the * and let you complete the acronym in whatever way you see fit. For me, it is most definitely a resounding capital-F!
My inner rebel and her IDGA* sidekick have been in full swing as of late. Their target: the ageism that taints the lives and sucks the joy out of so many women as they accumulate the wisdom that only age brings.
After decades gripping the bottle with gloved hands, I finally stopped dyeing my hair in November of 2019. I’d been dyeing it some variation of brown or red since I was 24-ish.
I’d done had it with the whole process and decided to kick the bottle to the curb. It was liberating as all get out, let me tell you.
During this particular session in November of ‘19 as I was mixing the developer with the coloring gel, I had an epiphany. It dawned on me that despite all the fantastically holistic things I was doing to support my health and wellbeing, I was putting a noxious chemical concoction on my head every single month. I thought to myself, and may have muttered aloud in fact I’m sure I did, that I actually love gray and white and all shades thereof so why was I continuing the dyeing process month after month?
I wasn’t even sure just how much gray or white I was covering at this point.
In between dye jobs I could see that in some sections of my head, there was a snowstorm. Whilst in others, nary a strand of light could be found. I was single and I wasn’t really interested in dating at the time in the name of doing some deep healing; so I gave up the bottle. And I’ve never looked back!
Letting my hair go “au natural” was an external representation of the growth happening within.
I’d always been on the path of “constant and never ending improvement”, or C.A.N.I. for short. At any given moment I was devouring a book or enrolled in a course aimed at some aspect of the “self-improvement” continuum.
Now, some could argue that I was a self-improvement junkie. Recall that I am a people-pleaser in recovery, and in retrospect, I think I was erroneously mislabeling this dedication as growth when in actuality the actions were taken to fix something so I’d be better accepted and offered a seat at the table.
Honestly, I have no freaking idea which table I was vying for said seat at, nor do I care at this point. I’m so over it. A welcome benefit of hitting 50. My IDGA* muscle is rapidly hypertrophying!
My inner rebel and her sidekick are in charge of this process now. It was time to delegate.
They got rid of the table and we sit in a circle on the floor now. I’ve always preferred sitting like that and would have enjoyed 8 years of post-grad education a whole lot more had I been able to sit cross-legged for hours instead of crammed into a hard, unsupportive chair at a desk.
Doing my own inner healing work has spurred something in me that has changed everything about everything for me. It sparked within, a fire that has emblazoned a new path. This path has helped my private clientele in countless ways. Since I am but one woman and I can only touch so many lives with the one-to-one business model, I have made a major shift.
This shift has at its core, an online community where rebellious women can gather and learn how to cultivate meaning during this incredible season of growth and reflection called midlife.
I specify “rebellious” because you have to be a little rebellious to buck the system and step out from the shadows cast by the ever-ubiquitous Status Quo.
Channeling one’s inner rebel is challenging for most.
She’s in there, I promise. She’s just been silenced over time and weakened because she’s been starved of oxygen, and everyone knows a fire needs oxygen to grow. So does your Inner Rebel. Now it’s not “oxygen” in the molecular sense, mind you. This “oxygen” is whatever it is that gives you that spring in your step. That reason for doing the tough stuff. That reward for a life lived fully.
We’ve been constantly told to “be nice”, “don’t buck the system”, “don’t speak too loudly”, and a whole mess of other messages that have resulted in us losing our footing along with our direction. Losing sight of what lights us up in life. This is where your community comes in.
Who is in your community?
I’ll tell you a bit about the one I’m cultivating. The Unraveling Together community is built upon the foundation that humans are stronger together. When it comes to doing the inner work in midlife, we do it collectively to harness that strength.
Unravelers, that’s what I call us…are willing to roll up their sleeves, wade into the uncomfortable, and do the work.
This sense of unrest amplified at midlife isn’t only in our thoughts and emotions. It is felt at a cellular level. We’ve accumulated toxins, depleted minerals, and ignored our own cries for help. These cries come from our heart, our mind, and our body.
The fact that we have this three-part triad — our body, our head and our heart — is why in the Unraveling Together community we approach everything from these 3 points of view.
Unraveling Together is the place we talk about the things we just don’t talk about. Especially as women.
Unraveling Together is a resource hub and an online forum focused on issues affecting women in midlife. Topics range from losing fat for good, dementia prevention, and optimizing the health of the major systems of the body (cardiovascular, digestive, reproductive and neurological) to start. Unravelers are encouraged to do the work for themselves, but never by themselves.
The bottom line on every single topic we work through together…Ending the War With Our Bodies. It’s time.
There is no plug-and-play version of inner work, nor is there a passive setting on life. You can opt out, I suppose. But why on earth would you?
I’ve always been drawn to those who are unique, authentic and all kinds of real. In fact, I recall a classmate of mine in chiropractic college mentioning I was like a hummingbird when we were at social gatherings together. I would visit one group, drink from the conversation, then move on to another and so on. She likened it to a hummingbird collecting nectar. I really loved the analogy and revisit that conversation from time to time. It was a really juicy one! (I couldn’t resist…)
If you crave this kind of connection with other women in midlife, plug into the Unraveling Together conversation. Follow my hashtag #UnravelingTogether and join me for virtual coffee or tea while reading my Saturday morning email highlights. Opting in is simple (Optin HERE). If you do it now, I’ll send you the first email this Saturday A.M. so we can enjoy our Saturday morning beverages together!