A Woman Stripped.
by Dawn Garcia
I am a woman stripped. Stripped of everything that tries to rest on my flesh and make me cringe within the skin that is holding my organs together. I am broken. Broken into a million sharp and jagged little pieces of transparent glass reflecting every experience I have ever had. I am afraid. Afraid to let go and let the world see all of the cracks and faults and frightening truths I am shoving back inside. I am naked. Bare. Exposed. Flawed. I am human. I am – BEAUTIFUL.
As we scurry through this swell of chaos, I often wonder where it is we find our breath. Running like rats in search of our next meal; desperate for some profound awakening or some mind blowing moment where all of our worlds suddenly become visible and our purpose becomes recognizable. That is the greatest misconception. Like an adequate title for this piece, there is no “perfect” anything; no ideal scenario but to travel down this road so fraught with cobblestone and gravel and shards of broken glass and dirt that seeps onto our flesh, splintered fragments of lives we’ve left behind and the vacancy of tomorrow – holding us captive or perhaps begging us to take a chance and simply embrace the uncertainty.
Today do not give in the negative self talk. Do not see your shortcomings or failures or imperfections. Instead stand tall and imagine that your hands could physically reach in through your flesh to take all of the darkness you are allowing to poison you. Imagine you could go in through your ears and remove all of the negative affirmations, the warnings of your worthlessness, the fears, the disdain, the continual conversations you have with yourself when you feel you aren’t enough. Now gently, find them and do NOT remove them. Look at them. They are shattered remains, grayed and withered, those fragments that are dying to heal if only you’d let them. Allow them to be their own entity, their own life source and in order to revive them with beauty, with fresh green, with bright color – you must nurture it, care for it, readjust it. You cannot simply tear it out at the root because that shock could kill it. It could emotionally kill you and you’ve held on to that old dirt long enough. Today – FREE YOURSELF. See the beauty in the brokenness. Find the light source in the shadowy dark. See all of those shards and realize they have not cut you, they are simply threatening to if you give in so today DON’T. Today see everything that holds you back as a challenge to be the things that propel you into success. Look into the foggy mirrored reflection and say out loud:
I am beautiful.
I am strong.
I am worth it.
I am fierce.
I am brave.
I am real.
I am victorious.
I am successful.
I am whole.
I am loved.
I am happy.
I am valuable.
I am passionate.
I am alive!
I am. Me.
Strip away the makeup. The costume. The suit. The tie. The dress. The lies. The regret. The sadness. The fear. The failure. The loss. The hurt. The heartbreak. This is NOW!
In honor of that I share a photo I took when I decided to strip away all of my past. All of the things holding me back. Be real. Do not be afraid. Learn to fall in love with YOU. Then the world will suddenly seem like poetry in motion. You will find the cadence in the sound of the leaves listlessly blowing in the wind; the chatter of conversation will suddenly become a glorious symphony signifying everything wondrous about life; the colors infiltrating your senses will be reflections of your newfound soul. In other words, find the melody that is extending itself to you.
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Life is far too valuable to spend another minute on anything that isn’t fulfilling you or giving you joy. Decades have flown by. All we have is today to learn a lesson, to right a wrong, to let it go, to walk away, to breathe it in, to kiss and make up, to let your kids stay up late, to hug a whole lot harder, to laugh a whole lot more, to stop making excuses, to see the writing on the wall, to build the life you dream of, to say you’re sorry, to see the beauty within you, to stop taking the blame, to tap into your passions, to stop making bucket lists, to say yes, to believe a little longer, to open that bottle you’ve been saving, to know you tried your best, to permanently change a pattern, to know who you are … The time is today.
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