The Tribe Experiment Day 20

Thou Shalt Not Play Small

Dear Love Pies,

So, just this morning, a friend of mine sent me a link to a video with this quote in it. I piped up and said “That’s Marianne Williamson. It hangs in my house.”

She’s going through a dark time, some of her creative pack has turned on her in jealousy, and is trying desperately to take her down mean-girl-style through gossip, criticism, falsehood.

You don’t have to be the subject of a smear campaign in order to shrink. LOTS of things make us want to hide, but mostly it comes down to judgement or jealousy. Someone has used the label “too” on you and it stuck. Too loud. Too big. Too much. Too sensitive. Too dramatic. Too emotional. Too full of yourself.

Or not enough. They told you you’re not enough.

Either way it made you want to hide. Or it made you second guess every creative impulse you’ve had. Or it made you edit your words, your actions, your outfits, your freedom, until you were merely a sliver of your authentic self.

But we can work with a sliver. A sliver still contains all the original material of the whole. And that sliver needs to hear the truth:

YOUR PLAYING SMALL DOES NOT SERVE THE WORLD.

As Marianne says, there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. And the same applies to so many things. Being impoverished won’t bring more riches to the poor. Going without food doesn’t solve the hunger crisis in the world. Giving up your health doesn’t make the sick well. Playing modest doesn’t give other people more power.

Dimming your light doesn’t give the world more illumination. It gives it more shadow.

The world is hungry for your soul food. It thrives with your thriving. It’s empowered by your empowerment. It shines brighter because of your light.

So turn it on. Turn it up. Beam, motherf*ckers!

I’m not talking about assaulting people with your awesomeness. Of course we need to be respectful. And kind. But we’ve been so wound up in our thoughts of others that we end up bound and restricted, stuck in the classroom of “yes mam” and “no sir” and following rules we didn’t make, rules that don’t feel true, respectful or kind to the self. And that serves no one. (Just ask Pink Floyd.)

I’m here today to pass out permission slips. Think of it as a hall pass in the school of fabulosity. Roam the halls, dance in the library, carouse on the cafeteria table tops. Revel.

Just let yourself take up the space of YOU, fully. Without editing the fabulous, the powerful, the strong, the quirky, the meaningful, marvelous bits.

Let your light shine.

Tell me how you’re beaming today, and how the world is a brighter place because of it.

Brightly woven,
Angi