2018 for me is going to be a year of Courage and being Brave; knowing ‘I’m Enough’ and accepting that life may not go to plan, no matter how hard it will be...
My blog today is going to be a personal one. I feel it’s important because Vocalise develops and changes based on what I learn, my values and ultimately how I can continue to empower our students through music.
I am part of an amazing tribe of studio owners who come together a few times a year and work on their business. We keep each other accountable and we learn how to be better at what we do and our mentors keep us on track so we can enjoy and successfully create our dream studios.
This time last year, my goal was to put a deposit on our own purpose built studio with our own performance space, a study hub for all our students to create, connect and know they are surrounded by like-minded students and teachers.
In October 2016 however, life threw my family a little curveball. So I did what I usually do; I got busy, I created work for myself so I can smash it and not have time to deal with the news.
A few months later, needless to say, I had a mini break down. It forced me to lean on my team, ask for help and let go.
Let go of a lot of things; let go of not having to be there for every parent, student, staff, scenario and situation.
Let go and trust and know my team will say the right things and make the right decisions. Let go of the idea that I'm a failure, the Studio will fall apart without me and the Parents will leave because I’m not there.
I knew I had an awesome team but actually seeing them individually shine and make their own decisions and support each other each week, that, I realised was better than any purpose built studio we can ever build.
So 2018 for Vocalise is about Belonging.
Let me tell you about last weekend (date night/weekend with Hubby) and how randomly finding a book called 'Daring Greatly' by Brenè Brown has just blown me away..
Our 10 min walk to Sydney Westfields from our hotel turned out to be 45mins; it was hot, Michael was exhausted, I had to hold him up and stop every 5 mins and after finally getting in the air conditioning and finding the first seat we could find, I went on a mission for a wheelchair. After 15 mins of getting lost I finally found him again and he got in.
The wheelchair they gave me had two flat tyres.
So we got into the lift and found ourselves looking at our reflection in the mirror.. We were a 'Hot Mess'.. I threatened him with whiplash or letting go at any steep descents because by this time, I was tired of his wheelchair objections.
Despite our 'Struggle is Real' situation, we both found it hilarious and we had a ‘we can do this’ moment. We knew we both had each other’s backs and that’s all that mattered.
I knew he felt vulnerable and beaten the same way I felt about the studio and It was heart breaking to know that ultimately both our fear of belonging was stopping us from accepting and presenting our imperfect selves to the world.
We all need to be Brave, be Kind, Accepting, Encouraging and Empower the community with a sense of belonging.
My purpose for Vocalise has always been to create a supportive and encouraging community. But I never really understood how big of an impact on people’s lives this makes until last year; even whilst I was being a 'Hot Mess'
I’d like to finish with this quote by Brenè Brown..
“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.” Brené Brown
Commenti