Dear friends,
When I arrived in Washington DC there was zero expectation for the program or myself. The most positive thing I was planning to take away was the fact that I will travel. Being a woman who runs her own business letting go off the reigns somewhat was not easy. True, not having all the information, ‘shooting from the hips’ (as I learnt from an American workshop leader and now in my personal opinion a mentor) and winging it were not new territory for me but rarely have I been so unaware of and lacking in understanding about something which has now become one of the most important experiences of my life.
Meeting 53 women from around the world and more specifically getting to know them, their stories, their struggles, their victories, their quirks has made me fall in love with, for the first time in my life, with more than two people at the same time (I have two children, in case there were questions...) and feel fabulous about it.
We are all very good at retelling events and painting pictures (social media monsters out there) of our daily lives and certain moments in time. And since we collectively had this IVLP experience all our stories overlap, correlate, resonate and relate with each other. And so what I want to tell you, my dear friends, is to lay my heart out on the table and say you have captivated me. When I fall in love, I plummet in love. My world turns up side down, and so in theory plummeting lets me soar to great heights. This height, I’m sure for some of us who know, let’s you see the real picture from above. And what I see in you all, my dear friends, is the strength you have given me, and to each other.
You can never have too much strength, only too much power, and my best friends have given me new strengths as well as topping up some of my others.
Before being here, I knew I what I wanted from life, from my purpose, from myself but not what I needed. The gaps in my knowledge and my confidence has been filled to the brim with your love, support and camaraderie. And sprinkled with laughter and memories and dancing.
Now I know how to get what I need in order to have what I want. And what I want is for women and men to understand each other more. Why? Because through understanding we have less conflict and more collaboration. Why do we want collaboration? Because you learn from collaboration and you grow ideas, and you recognise your mistakes. And this letter is really about trying my best to hold onto this love, in all its peculiarities, wonders, fatigue and fear.
Because essentially we all want to make the world a better place to live in, we need each other to be able to do that.
When they said give a fisherman a rod...you are my rods (please don’t take my euphemism the wrong way).
One specific rod I have been handed over, out of the fountain of never ending rods in life, is to have the courage to talk about myself and my work. During one point on the program I volunteered to do a talk about my work in front of a large room of people, most of whom I did not know and so was hard to gauge, and instead of just talking about my business I decided to start with my own story. I felt brave enough to do it because you were all there and I wanted to be brave for you all by saying out aloud how important it is to have the ability to consciously talk about yourself and tell your own story. And in turn inspire others to talk about themselves.
I will stop here before this letter becomes too mushy, even though I want to shout out to the world how cool my girlfriends are!
To my dear friends, with all my love and my heart.
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