Raw Real
Work hard, be strong, pick yourself up when you fall down, don’t show your flaws and do not let others know if you are hurting; this was my German upbringing. In many aspects it has served me well over my life, and in other ways it has the potential to be limiting. In a society where women are often viewed as being too emotional to be powerful and successful, left in check, this mantra could easily become very restrictive.
Restrictive you say? One would think it would give me the capacity to be more “polished and shiny” when I am on stage. The problem is, I am a very emotional person at my core and being “polished” is not congruent with my soul. The times where I tried to be “polished” while delivering my message were the times that I shined the least!
All of us have stories that we carry with us. We pull them along like a beautifully colored, shiny hard shell suite case; nicely packed with all of our worldly treasures (experiences). If one were to open our suit case, the first layer will likely have all of our best and most beautiful clothes and jewels. But underneath will be those clothes that we hold onto for one reason or another. There may be the frumpy ones that we used to hide our insecurities, the blood stained ones from our injuries, the ones with holes in the knees from all of the times we fell down, the ones with barf all over them from all of the times we were sick and the ones with tear stains from all of the times we painfully and secretly cried ourselves to sleep. Although they are things we wore in our past, those pieces of clothing tell our story. They shape who we are and what we stand for. They have marked our soul for its destination. Not honoring those torn and tattered pieces that we may try and hide is not only doing ourselves a dis-service but also doing a dis-service to those with whom we share our message.
Human beings ultimately want to connect with other human beings. They want to know that you are real. They are inspired by the fact that you bleed, hurt, fall, fail and rise from it all and then do it again and again.
As women we may feel the need to appear “polished” in order to fit in with our counterparts, men. But I say to you, no matter the subject you speak on or the size of your audience, let your mistakes be woven into your message and let your pain drive your passion. Be raw, be real and most of all, be YOU!
About the Author - Dr. Monika Buerger has been speaking worldwide for the past fifteen years. Her mission is to help as many people heal in every aspect of their life. Because every factor of our health carries forward to future generations, with her work, she hopes to help prevent disease in the unborn child, promote proper neurodevelopment in the newborn and foster optimal health for all!
