Breaking the Mold

I sometimes catch myself editing myself when I feel that by being honest, I might ‘cause a scene’. But the more I read, and the more I blog, I get inspired to risk being myself more.

A couple of recent blogs have contributed to this additional ‘grease to my elbow’.

The first is: ‘Women who dye their armpit hair’

– an article about a young lady who at the age of 15 decided to stop shaving her underarm hair. At 17 she decided to dye the hair ‘voodoo blue’ and (naturally) pose (with her arm raised) for all to see.

To my mind, there is no greater definition of self-leadership. Self -Leadership asks us to carve our own path where necessary and this sometimes means going against the grain even if it means exposing ourselves to ridicule. I really feel that this young lady has broken the mold and I encourage you to read and re-tweet her story.

The other blog was Energy Management: Managing our Energy not our Time –

sometimes I can be hesitant to talk about spirituality in my blogs although it is a major part of my belief system and thus infiltrates everything that I do. However this blog acknowledges the impact and influence of our spiritual energy and the importance of replenishing it. So I’m encouraged to speak freely about this important aspect and its relationship to stress management.

We have all, many of us, benefitted and are benefitting from those before us who dared to break the mold and there is more work to be done. Certainly many workers are suffering due to ‘CBF’ or the ‘cheaper, better, faster’ rhetoric which is the prevailing demand in work places today. You can read more about this in the article above plus ways in which we can renew our energy levels in five core areas (well worth a read).

So like me, if you’re tempted to self-edit, then think again, dare to break the mold, my experience has shown that it makes life easier for ourselves and for those who come after us. You can read more about this in my blog: ‘Standing out from the crowd’.

And if you’re wondering, read more about ‘What is Self-Leadership’ (an interesting insight by a Dr Ng) and if you’d like to invest in developing your own self-leadership skills (rather than reading about it solely) book on the next self-leadership training.

photo credit: Maria C Dawson: Stupefied “Hair” via photopin (license)