Brave Girls

In January of this year, I took part in a 6 (ok, really it was 7) week workshop that completely changed my life. Let me tell you a bit about it. I'm sorry this post is very long, but you are important to me, and I want you to know the whole story and know why you need to take this workshop.

Last year, for most of the year, I primed myself for turning 50. I decided I wanted my next 50 years to be a true reflection of the life I wanted to live. I had no idea what that meant, but I knew that I was not living my life as fully and richly as I could and should. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I had my suspicions.
In November, 2010, I participated in Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). With the encouragement of my husband and an acquaintance I met through the blog world, Melody Ross, I wrote. And I wrote. I remember around the tenth of the month, I posted on my Facebook wall something about "I'm so tired of writing." Melody posted "Keep writing, September, keep writing." I didn't understand what she meant, but I did it anyway. Around the 18th day, something profound started to happen, I realized I wasn't writing in anger anymore. I was writing the story of my life, and I was getting all the toxins out, but it was no longer me banging the keys in anger. I felt a sort of peace start to come in, but I didn't know what it meant. I wrote 54,000 words in November. I have never read these words again.

From about August, Melody had been posting on Facebook, about Brave Girls and Soul Restoration. I had been receiving the daily Brave Girls Club inspirations since they became available, and loved them, but I held back from signing up for her new online class, Soul Restoration. One day in early December, I just did it. I signed up! I had no idea what to expect, and no idea what it would mean to me, I just felt compelled to do it.

In the course of this workshop, I learned SOOO much about myself! I learned why I have certain behaviors and expectations. I learned why I was unable to trust, I learned how to look at situations and life in general in a whole new way. I made new friends, online, and I learned that I'm never alone. Never. My faith in God was completely restored and strengthened. I learned to listen to that little voice deep in my soul that tries to guide me, and I learned that I can have relationships with a bazillion different people on a ton of different levels, and that I can let them as far into my life *as I want to.* I learned to set boundaries. Mostly, I learned how to live. I have a roadmap for who I am and how I want to live my life. It has been the most incredible journey, and I am nowhere near done, but I am making steps forward.

Melody and her sister Kathy are among the most amazing people I've ever met. They have a clarity of purpose and a knack for delivering information and getting you to listen that is uncanny. I watched the videos and the light I saw in Melody is something I want so badly. I want to be that kind of pure, wonderful person. And I will be. The class uses art as therapy. You do NOT have to be an artist to take the class, not by any means, but you do need to be willing to buy a jar of Mod Podge and a paintbrush and get sticky. Many of us who have taken the class call Mod Podge "Soul Glue." We say it with love, because truly, in any class where you go through 2 containers of Mod Podge and seal that Mod Podge in with love and laughter has earned the title Soul Glue.

Toward the end of the class, a group of us decided that we were important to each other. We formed a little group on Facebook, and we talk there, almost every day, about just about everything in our lives. It is amazing. I have a tribe. I consider these women to be some of my closest friends, and, even though we have never met in person, some of them know more about me, and I about them, than many of my dearest friends. I was fortunate enough to take the class with one of my closest real world friends, as well, so I was blessed both online and in real life, as we compared notes and talked through the many discoveries I made about myself.

I am looking back on this post, and I can't believe what I've put here, but you know what, because of how much this class has given to me, I feel the need to pay it forward and give YOU the opportunity to take this amazing class. I want to share what I've learned with others and I want others to feel what I feel. The lightness and simplicity of a wonderful life with purpose and love.

No matter who you are, no matter what your life is like, it can be better. You owe it to yourself to take this workshop. It is the best money you will ever spend on yourself. And, trust me, my friend, you are worth it.

For more information on Brave Girls, please visit Brave Girls Club. Be sure to tell them September sent you, and be sure to sign up for the daily emails. You will love them! If you want to see some of the projects I did while in this workshop, please sit a bit and visit my blog, there are a bunch of posts in January, February and March about my experience.

-With all my love to Brave Girls everywhere, and with all my love to Melody and Kathy and the rest of the amazing Brave Girls Staff.