“Hind sight is easy. Over the years, I have been approached by so many women who worked hard, looked good, were smart, savvy, and took their responsibilities with others seriously. Somehow, they forgot themselves; they forgot that they matter. All of these conversations were had privately or in small groups of women in safe spaces. And sometimes, it took deep courage to show up and own the mess one found herself in. We’ll do anything to stave off and avoid the shame we feel. We avoid, defend and deny. And, in that, we commit to dying a slow death, inside, where we live.
I have been there, done that! Now, at age 77, My door on the public bankruptcy conversation has only been partially open for the last 15 years. Now, it is time to open it fully, and let the winds of change flow in, no longer circling the wagons of a much deeper conversation to be had with women who are feeling scared and alone in the uncertainty of the lives and their work. The rapid changes that are afoot, relative to money, cash flow, consumer debt and banking are leaving so many of us feeling depleted, deflated, depressed, anxious, worried and fearful, not to mention angry, outraged and grieving. We run a lot of internal mythologies to feed a cultural narrative that we have to have enough of X in order to stay on top of Y. And, if we don’t have enough of X, our credibility will take a deep dive and be lost to shame.
I work with women. Specifically, these women are coaches, healers and spiritual mentors who love what they are doing, get wonderful and meaningful results with their clients, yet do not invite sufficient cash flow to support a quality of life that will bring and sustain joy in their lives, because their own financial needs are unmet. It is not that they can’t sustain a flow; rather, I believe it is that they won’t allow it. There is something that happens inside of them that stops them in their tracks from thinking that they can have more, that they even have a right to that. So, they end up playing small around the edges of their businesses and their lives. I help women change that so that they reap the joy of empowering their own lives in the midst of chaos they can do nothing about, getting paid equitably for their results.
So, stay tuned for more, as new posts with my lessons learned begin. As well, in the near future I’ll introduce a new framework I call the Bravery Blueprint… a simplicity of group and individual ways to work with me, so that you can stop bankrupting the truth of who you really are and flourish forward. In the meantime, I invite you to listen to the following conversation with me and Louise LeBrun about my experience of declaring bankruptcy 15 years ago: Tapping In When You are Tapped Out. Produced in 2010 – 13 years ago – I believe that the conversation is relevant for so many now, just as it was for me, when it was originally recorded. I trust that it will offer up hope and courage for you in full support of igniting and sustaining your resourcefulness and your resilience.” (Sheila Winter Wallace)
Money and Uncertainty – full blog post