Project Embrace

Gifting 15 coaching conversations over 20 days

The story behind this project

Photo by Monique Pongan on Unsplash

 
 
 

A dear friend gifted me Kate Baer’s poetry collection, What Kind of Woman, as I was on the cusp of a major identity shift; the third in eighteen months. I lost my mother, became a mother, and left my shiny corporate career between December 2021 and June 2023. Baer’s collection is about the beauty and hardships of being a woman in the world today and the knots we tie ourselves into to play the roles that we do in the culture we live within.

It would be impossible for me to pick a favorite, but the poem that captures the essence of the dichotomies we must hold being a woman in this world, that I have felt so acutely in recent years, is this one:

Moon Song

You are not an evergreen, unchanged

by the pitiless snow. You are not a photo,

a brand, a character written for sex or

house or show. You do not have to choose 

one or the other: a dream or a dreamer, the 

bird or the birder. You may be a woman of 

commotion and quiet. Magic and brain.

You can be a mother and a poet. A wife and

a lover. You can dance on the graves you dug

on Tuesday, pulling out the bones of yourself

you begin to miss. You can be the sun and the 

moon. The dance a victory song.

It plays into the feeling of inherent contradictions, the idea of the current identity you have needing to draw a line in the sand with other labels. To be a one-dimensional image of a woman instead of the lived experience containing multitudes. To perform: I am this, not that. I want to be seen as this kind of woman, not that kind. 

Then we can insert our internalized judgment, or eyeroll of “that” when we encounter it in the world.

Who does she think she is to be the thing that I am not allowed to be?

What I love about Moon Song then, is it gives us permission to embrace all of it. To be both, and. To dynamically own all the pieces of ourselves that we are and want to be.

Easier said than done, of course. Especially in the cultural soup we are all swimming in that gives us very clear messages about what is acceptable, and what is not.

When we can embrace a both/ and idea for ourselves instead of either/ or, we get to break out of the box we (read: society) put ourselves in. We play with re-writing cultural scripts and deconstructing our conditioning.

For me, that means I can be both:

  • Cerebral and intuitive

  • Playful and professional

  • A creative and a serious business owner

  • Desiring of new growth and content with where I am

  • A hard-charging Type A get-shit-done and an embodiment of warmth, compassion, slowing down.

It feels like a hug to the self to be able to own ideas that previously felt like a tension of opposites. No one will take me seriously if I use the word “intuition” in a business setting, right?

Learning to embrace the wholeness that we are, and not the skinny sliver of a “brand” that we perform to the world is hard work. We come up against beliefs that have been embedded into our worldview through the ideas our caregivers gave us growing up, media, the people we spend time with, the spaces we occupy digitally and physically.

But the cost to not do this work keeps us small, fractured within ourselves, not fully trusting ourselves and our desires. 

A trickle down effect, and eventual waterfall happens within us as we learn to embody this level of self-acceptance.

We take on bigger ideas and fully embrace:

  • All parts of ourselves: even the unwelcome, unwanted, “shadow” parts that we are taught to hide and reject.

  • Multiple truths that live in a sea of gray, instead of an either/ or, zero sum game mentality.

  • Being deserving of taking up more space.

  • Nonlinear progress in a society that teaches us progress only counts if it looks like a straight line up and to the left, with specific checkboxes along the way.

  • The mark we want to make on the world that may fall outside of the “good girl” box we are encouraged to stay in.

  • The rejection of cultural scripts we are handed regarding our bodies, beauty, what is considered valuable, what we can be good at, and how big of an influence we can have.

Part of the work I am doing with my private clients now that is so juicy, nourishing, and game-changing, is to give space to embracing the “both and” idea. To diminish the power of black and white, either/ or thinking. To own the discarded parts of ourselves and let shine the culturally undervalued. To let our wants guide our behavior and identity instead of conditioning. To examine what stands in the way of being able to be “Magic and brain”, “the sun and the/ moon”. 

Introducing Project Embrace  

I’m launching a new project to my community; something to carry forth my focus in this work of embracing multiple truths of womanhood simultaneously, and the impact that can make on our lives and in our communities. 

Between March 1st - 22nd, I am gifting 15 coaching calls.

To give a soft landing, and non judgmental space to explore what’s true for us.

And who doesn’t need a (metaphorical or literal) hug these days?

WHO IS THE PROJECT FOR?

Each of these 75-minute conversations is for...

YOU, if you're a woman* struggling with comparison, not-enoughness, or perfectionism.

YOU, if you feel you have left parts of yourself behind, or hiding, that are aching to be seen.

YOU, if you are tired of tying yourself in knots trying to be the good woman that society expects in all the roles we play.

YOU, if you feel stuck, in the midst of a tumultuous transition, and just need a soft place to land and explore for a while.

*My hope is to provide a safe space in my practice and in this project for all who identify as a woman.

How do I get a spot in the Project?

1. Click the link below to Apply for one of the 15 spots.

2. If accepted, you will be sent a link to book your call within the project dates.

3. Your call is 75 minutes and recorded for your own future listening.

4. Show up! Cancelations and reschedules are not permitted.

What’s the Catch?

Running these projects is both a gift I love to offer and how I connect with potential new clients. I believe a lot of harm is done using predatory marketing tactics, and high-pressure sales strategies. My hope is to undo some of this harm by providing a fully safe space to receive the gift of coaching, without any pressure dangled in the experience. Because of this, I will not let anyone enroll in a program I offer during this experience. I hold an intentional pause between the experience of coaching, and mutually deciding to work together, or not. I hope this resonates with you, and truthfully answers that there is no catch!