Slainté, Phenomenal Woman!
I love the message behind Maya Angelou’s poem, Phenomenal Woman. It’s been five years since she left this earth, but she is still reminding women globally about our inherent worth and value.
Today I am bringing love, blue skies and an invitation from my current home in Kilmainham, Ireland to honor your femme-nomenal.
As I write, I’m envisioning a group of us sitting around a table at my favourite outdoor neighbourhood cafe, Union 8. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you recognise the place. Similar to Cheers of the 80’s, this is a place where everybody knows your name…and not unlike “NORM!”, I hear, “ANN!” every time I walk through the door. Only here, the greetings are followed by European kisses to both cheeks and hugs from a multinational family.
We are luxuriating over our favourite beverages, listening to some easy music and talking about all the incredible places we are going next spring on retreat when Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” floods the room. I find every part of my body dancing in my seat.
It hits me. YUP. I will survive. Finally.
To be honest, there were times in the past 2 years I wasn’t so certain of surviving. It’s been one incredible journey of loss, grieving, redefining and reclaiming who I am. WHEW, GIRLFRIEND! Our life journeys are not easy. It takes so much courage and energy to just show up for the various experiences and lessons we are here for.
That is why I am more certain than ever that my vision back in 2013 was right. I vividly remember that exact spot where I was standing amidst the cobblestones in the Cotswolds when I felt a knowing unlike anything I’d ever known. While walking through the ancient village, I had what felt like a powerful and inspiring download from somewhere outside of me. All of a sudden, I felt the calling to create incredible opportunities for women to experience the world…but from different places than traditional tours or typical yoga-type retreats. Not that there’s anything wrong with these type experiences, but having been strolling through Europe with my BFF, Shari, I had the knowing of what real women long for and thrive from.
We women give of ourselves, fully and selflessly, day in and day out. We take care of our partners, children, other people’s children, our parents, our friends, our employees, colleagues, our neighbours, and the list goes on. We give our hearts and energy to connections near and far. People we know and strangers on the street. We are natural givers and yet we rarely give ourselves the credit deserved. The energy required to show up in this world day in and day out is immense and draining.
What I knew in that moment in the Cotswolds was that women need to be able to walk away now and again, to a distant place, to connect deeply with the beauty of a distant and unfamiliar land, with themselves and with other like-hearted women. To have every need attended to, every detail of the trip taken care of for them so all they had to do was roll out of bed and savor the moments.
So that’s what I did. I left my career of 30 years and created a business of bringing joy to women’s lives. After the unexpected loss of my 34 year marriage and the many losses that came with that, I wasn’t sure I’d find joy again. But Ireland has brought me back to myself. And I want to share it with you. I want to give you the beauty, the peace, the incredible expansiveness felt from the mountains to the sea. Come join me. We are meant, not only to survive, but LIVE with a capital L.
Ireland East Retreat:
https://www.wayfindingwomen.com/…/Ireland-East-itinerary-WO…
Ireland West Retreat:
https://www.wayfindingwomen.com/ireland-west-retreat-2020/
Read the details and hit the button. Come join me.
And remember, “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed in the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
~ H. Jackson Brown from PS I Love You.
Cheers to LIFE,
Ann
