All my life, I always thought I would be the one to fail and everyone around me would be more successful or accomplish great things. What I have observed over time is those that I thought would “make it” either died or gave up.
I am still moving forward. I can’t tell you exactly what drives me – other than what I learned in Dancing Souls – my spirit is much stronger than my ego. I believe adversity defines you. You either make the best of it or you die (and not always literally).
I must have believed in myself on a level beyond my pea brain thought processes because I am a success. I may not be Bill Gates but I am a success. The fact that I love myself and stand up for myself and refuse to put up with anyone’s crap is absolutely amazing!
I wondered if I would ever find my back bone and I did. It took my mother’s death and moving to IL in 2008 to find it. Again, the story is in Dancing Souls. I have worked on finding my voice and standing up for myself my entire life. I wouldn’t say I was a slow learner, I wanted to be thorough in the lesson. I don’t ever want to come back and redo this!!!!
Working in the environmental business while I was trying to decide what to do with Awakening Spirit, opened a whole new world. I seemed to be instantly respected because I just don’t take crap off of anyone. I am not on the take and I believe we should be paid fairly for what we do. I have repeatedly been told that I am tough but fair. I follow the regulations and no one can say otherwise. I don’t abuse my power, I stand in it. I treat the workers fairly. If they are doing a good job for me, I buy lunch occasionally. The workers are surprised because no one has ever treated them that way. They decide I am not so bad after all. I believe in treating people good if they are doing good work for you. Maybe someday the world will just do that because it is the right thing to do.
Kathleen Flanagan, CEO and Founder of Awakening Spirit, Aromatherapist, Sound Therapist, Esthetician and Author.