Empowerment. Why do we need to feel empowered, inspired, motivated? Why can’t we just be that way all the time? I guess it comes down to growing up and worrying about what everyone else thinks while they’re worrying about what you think. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

When you really think about it, no body really gives a damn what you do. They don’t care whether you’ve written the book, started a business, took a year off to see the world, or decided to get hitched, had six kids and joined a cult.

Okay, so family and friends might care in the form that they are happy for you. Some might even support you, others discourage you.

Either way you’re in it on your own.

Unless you’re willing to believe in yourself and chase your dreams no one is going to do it for you. Work hard, play hard, and just get the shit done.

I know, I know. It’s so much easier said than done. Especially when you’re inspired one moment and then you wake up in the morning, hit snooze a dozen times, checked Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and email three times each, and realised all those things you had to do before the day started aren’t going to happen now and you have twenty minutes to shower, dress, put on the make up, grab your lunch and be out the door to make your train for work.

So where was I? Empowerment, that’s right.

Last night, a few friends and I went to a comedy show. Or so we thought. Stand up comedy, laugh so hard that you cry.

The joke might have been on us.

Well let me tell you, we laughed – a lot, got a bit teary too. It was funny, sad, and real, and it could have been classed as a self-help seminar or a motivational session. Had we known what it was, we might not have gone.

I’m glad we went.

It was empowering and it came at exactly the right time.

As a writer and creative, I find that it’s very easy to be super critical of myself. No one can criticize me more than I criticise myself. It must come with the creative side of my brain. Nothing is ever good enough.

Sometimes it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.

Like when you publish a book and discover that there are errors in it. Lots of them. And no one bothered to tell you.

It’s embarrassing, gut wrenching and frustrating.

When it happens it’s easy to blame others. But in the end we are responsible for our successes and our failures. Yes, there are other variables involved, but in the end it’s on us. Just us.

So last night, I felt empowered. Empowered enough to admit to myself that I’m a writer. Am I good writer? Who knows. There are a million writers that are better than me. So what? There are a million other better runners than me too but that’s not going to stop me from hitting the pavement and signing up for marathons.

Good, bad, awesome, mediocre.

It doesn’t matter. That’s all subjective.

I am writer because I write. I am an author because I’ve written and published books. I can say that I’m successful to a point. I am successful until I keep raising the bar, higher and higher and higher, before I even give myself the chance to enjoy the little successes like writing a book whilst working full time and being a mum. It doesn’t matter that I’m not a best seller or that it’s not (yet) my full time job. It’s all just a different measure of success.

Putting yourself down is not empowerment. It’s discouraging and soul destroying. You wouldn’t do it to your best friend so why the hell do we do it to the person that we have to spend our entire lives with – ourselves?

A friend of mine recently told me she’s going to give less fucks, and she has a point. Why do we care so much what people think? More often than not we care about what people who we don’t care about think of us. Why oh why?

When I actually write it down it sounds ridiculous.

So, I laughed a lot last night. I felt empowered. I realised that I take life way too seriously and I’ve forgotten how to let my hair down. I’ve forgotten how to be me. The person I am is not someone I recognise.

Last night, the comedy show that was and wasn’t a comedy, opened up my eyes. How long they will stay open is anyone’s guess. But one thing is certain, that I’m a writer, and write I will. Sometimes it will be crap, sometimes it will be magical. Maybe one day my words will empower someone else.

One thing is certain, it’s up to me. Just like it is up to you to follow your dreams and to stay empowered.

Go and get what you want in life. You’re the only one who can.

The people who love you will support you, and the rest, well that’s their problem. I’m off to find my tribe.

I hope you do too. Go for it, you know you can. You know you will.

xoxo