“Blessed are those brave enough to make things awkward, for they wake us up and move us forward.” - Glennon Doyle
When I read this in Glennon’s book Untamed, I was lying on my porch screaming, “Yes! Hallelujah! Preach it sister! I want to celebrate the awkward I have been witnessing lately.
Recently my friend Jackie VanCampen posted about white privilege on her Facebook page and had her ass handed to her by well meaning white people who didn’t want their ideas shaken. I called Jackie a prophet. Speaking truth to power is always unsettling to those who want their positions held hard and fast.
A few weeks ago nurses stood fully masked in front of cars in the middle of the road trying to stop protesters from continuing their way to a rally against social distancing and continued lockdowns to protect people from the COVID-19 coronavirus. I applauded the nurses, while others applauded the protestors. Disrupting the status quo of white supremacy can feel scary and chaotic but that is exactly what this virus has done. It has brought us home against our will, and resistance explodes when free will is seemingly taken away.
You can’t control the world. But you CAN control how you move forward in your own way.
If you are feeling anger, let your righteous fury fuel your resolve to change the way your life is right now.
If you are feeling fear, let your need for comfort fuel your resolve to connect to the things that make you feel swaddled and loved.
If you are feeling joy, let your glorious spirit of happiness expand over all those you love and care for.
No matter what you are feeling or how your life has changed, know this, there is no turning back. Be brave enough to say the things you have been dying to say. We need you to BE YOU. All of YOU. Authentically YOU. Every bit of YOU.
There are no hard and fast rules to rebellion.
Carry on.
Love,
Dr. Melissa Bird