Shut Up, Shame!

"JUST BECAUSE IT'S NOT ADDRESSED DOESN'T MEAN IT DOESN'T EXIST."I'm about to say everything that most people are afraid to say: Shame has been the supporting crutch for many women. Whether we know it or not, we've allowed shame to linger in our lives for way too long. It has kept most of us stuck in the same place it led us to. We can identify many areas of our lives where we are either hiding or resenting shame. Let's start with being unwed, abandoned, infertile, assaulted, or even underestimated. (This is to name a few.) Shame around these areas has become the pillow we sleep on at night and the car we drive in by day. How is it that some areas of our lives can flourish and blossom while others suffer and become stagnant? You may not have experience in any of these areas (or maybe you do). The fact is that they exist, and many of us women struggle with the shame of our past or current experiences. I've personally overcome many of the topics addressed in this book, but there are a few areas I haven't experienced. This book serves as a sounding board and voice for the ones who have yet to speak their truths. I pray I got this right. Or at least, I opened the door to us having the real, provocative, honest, and deep conversations we truly need to have. You will soon find out more on the pages so eloquently written. But here's a reality check: We can course-correct by advising shame to shut up and dismantling its power. Instead of tucking shame away or functioning and living our lives as business as usual, we should first start with facing the [insert your shame here]. Instead of ignoring it, pretending it never happened, and just moving forward, we get rid of shame's presence by speaking directly to it once and for all.It's time to bare all-every single thing that's happened to you. It's time to be truthful about what is and what isn't. This is the powerful idea of what Shut Up, Shame! is all about. If you tell it, no one else can gain from your story, right? Let's play the music that we decided to skip-fast forward-and finally scream at the top of our lungs that we are taking our power back. We don't wake up one day and just have it all. We choose to have it all with every single action we take. It's time to look back one last time to be catapulted forward. Your power is in silencing your shame.