“My mission in life is not to merely survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor and some style.”
Maya AngelouI just returned from speaking in Dallas at a women’s luncheon. I spoke on the Four Pillars of Leadership, one of my favorite topics. We spent a lot of time talking about hope, and how critical hope is especially during times of uncertainty. On the way home I found myself reflecting what are the things that actually give me hope? The answer surprised me with how simple it was.
Words.
Sometimes poetry intimidates me. It can go right over my head. But I love it when poetry gives me an experience. A moment of acknowledgement. An internal yes. That. Hope. A spark of beauty in the midst of life simply “being life”. Maya Angelou is a woman I admire tremendously. Her words and her life have shaped me as an adult. Given me rest when my heart is weary and my soul dry. She is one of my heroes.
Following the thread of hope, another master of words, Emily Dickinson wrote that hope is the thing with feathers. A bird that perches in the soul and sings through the storm without asking a single thing in return. No conditions. No guarantees. Just the song, steady and persistent, even in the harshest weather.
Maya Angelou understood that bird well.
She didn’t call her memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Stayed Silent even though she remained silent for years during her childhood. She called it I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings because that is exactly what she did. Through unspeakable pain, trauma and heartbreak, she sang. Conditions didn’t necessarily improve. Constraints and societal restrictions didn’t disappear. Yet she sang anyway.
Maya wasn’t just resilient. She was unshakable.
The opening quote says it beautifully:
Passion. Compassion. Humor. Style.
She didn’t say hustle, shrink, or wait until you feel ready. She said thrive. With warmth. With joy. With heart. With a commitment to herself. That was Maya on point, tender, humble and utterly unwilling to play small.
Here’s what I believe about heroes. Real heroes don’t give us something we lack, they wake us up to something we have forgotten deep within. Hope that there is a way forward. A gentle reminder that the path does exists.
When another woman’s words, presence and courage move you, that is recognition. Your soul whispering, this is mine too.
The qualities you most love in another woman aren’t unknown to you. They resonate because they are already familiar. Already yours.
So here is my question for you today:
- Who is your Maya?
- Who is the woman, living or deceased, famous or quietly extraordinary in your own life who sang when she had every reason to be silent?
- Whose unshakable nature called something forth in you when you needed it most?
You are not drawn to what is foreign to you. You are drawn to what is familiar, to the brilliance you already carry but you haven’t fully accessed or claimed yet.
Pay attention. Your hero is a compass. She’s pointing toward your own legacy, the one only you can leave, in the way only you can leave it.
That doesn’t begin at the end of your life. It begins right here and now. Are you willing to discover what that marrow-deep whisper is? Let it inform you today.
With some passion. Some compassion. Some humor. And yes, some style,
Emily and Maya both pointed us toward the same truth; hope, words and singing anyway.
Now it’s your turn. Who is your hero?
This September, I’m gathering a small circle of women ready to stop surviving their story and start thriving inside it, unapologetically, curve balls and all.
Stay close. More to come…….
Hit reply and tell me who your hero is, I cannot wait to read each one.