by Melissa Traynor | Featured Contributor
Madonna most certainly sang words that should resonate with us all; express yourself. It pains me to hear, see and even myself often live the injustice of sheltering yourself from who you really are. In fact, even figuring out who you really are is one helluva hard climb without people dragging you down with their opinions and views of your life. It’s hard being a girl in this world. In fact, it is hard for us all so I don’t get why we have to make it harder for each other as a whole, but I digress. We are bombarded with messages of what we should and should not say, wear, do, BE. If that isn’t enough, even those rules of societal acceptance change as the trends evolve every season.
Women are complex creatures. We are strong as hell but also quite weak. Many of us have ever changing characters that we live out or at least should and that is totally okay. There is a big difference with being you but being made up of many masks, ideas, concepts and likes and that of living a lie. You know you are living a lie when you feel pain more often than pleasure. Most of this pain comes not from without but from within our very selves that stems from one small word with big context – guilt.
~Guilt is built for those not to grow but to wilt. ~ MT
Guilt of not being the perfect wife. Guilt of not being the top earning CEO. Guilt of not being the perfect mother. Guilt of not being a size 4 and 5 foot 11. Guilt of not being able to save the world-yesterday. Guilt of not being everything to everyone. Not only are these unrealistic expectations that will drive you batty, but this one miniscule word is often what holds you back from truly expressing and sharing your light with the world. Who is it that defines how your life should be? Who is it that defines who you should be? Get up, go to the washroom and have a look in the mirror.
Words are great but actions make change. If you want to let go, you need to do some work, you need to surround yourself with the right people (and rid yourself of the rest), and you need to be fearless and ready to fail. Find the things that make you hide the most and keep putting yourself into horribly uncomfortable situations that challenge the garbage in your head. Do you feel you hold back in social situations? Make a point of approaching at least 3 people you don’t know and strike up a conversation. Initiate. It takes just a simple hello. This process of letting go may hurt a little sure, but I promise if you keep at it, you will knock down your walls one brick at a time. The pain of not being your authentic self or even selves, is far greater than the discomfort that really, when you change the angle of your perspective, isn’t all bad at all.
Please, oh please, be strong ladies and allow the world to embrace the vast expressionism of your inner self and keep this world from being stale, boring and void of variety by expressing yourself in all you do.
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Music, movement and empowerment. Those three words describe what drives Melissa Traynor ACSM-HFS, CISSN. Music fuels movement and movement frees our soul. Empowerment gives us all a freedom and strength like no other to achieve our best versions of ourselves and thus, our true levels of happiness. As a trio, Melissa strives to not only embody those three elements in her own life as a journey, with a side of weird, awkward and of course amazing, but thrives on helping others to embrace the power of those elements from the outside and more importantly, from within. As a certified health and fitness specialist, nutritionist, and an all around guinea pig of life, she uses her knowledge and various experiences to help write, speak, teach and coach others on how by fueling and moving our bodies bodies gives us not only a strong body, but a strong mind. Her passion is making people laugh, smile, and pretty much just own their awesome! She is also very passionate about community, social services, mental health and human rights on an overall global scale.
My goal is to give you #MPOWERment so you can live your best life. With a black belt in ‘keeping it real’ I aim to inspire and spread good like wildfire! When asked, “What do you want to do when you grow up” I said, ” Build ladders, tear down walls and smash glass ceilings
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