It was Monday. Elena did her usual link up motivational post. This time she added something… a new something… a special something… an inspiring something. She added an optional writing prompt for this Monday’s link up:
Standing Taller. It was more than a prompt to me. I was inspired, I was all in and then it was my mission. Wait… What does standing taller even mean to me? How do I stand taller? What makes me stand taller? Do I even stand tall? Do I need to work on standing taller?
It was my favorite day of the work week… The night of the week I get to stop and buy dinner. The night I don’t have to cook. I walked into Jimmy John’s to order sandwiches. “Hi welcome to do a Jimmy John’s. What can we get you?”
The girls were fantastic. Olivia crossed off the list and Francine pick things off the shelf. No fighting, no whining… a small mommy victory, my own personal moment. Walking to the checkout line at the grocery store the cashier warmly says hello to Olivia and Francine. Olivia shies away at first. “You’re with me sweetie. It’s okay to say hi,” I say to Olivia.
I was busy answering e-mails and getting things done on the computer. I was a machine and my To Do list was quickly dwindling… yeah me! A colleague at work walked into my room. She wanted to run some ideas by me and share an exciting new program she was using. I looked up to say Hi and welcome her in. I was on a roll… I was getting things done! I kept working as she started talking. I nodded, uh-huh uh-huh and I briefly looked up.
Then it all made sense to me.
I started to place my order. My eyes instantly looked to the floor as I talked. Why was I you looking down? I’m a confident, strong woman with nothing to prove or be intimidated by. It was the freckin’ Jimmy John’s order guy for goodness sakes. I looked up from the floor and looked him in the eyes. I continued with my order. My shoulders instantly went back, my face lit up a bit and my 5’11 frame stood taller.
Olivia shied away. A mom look and a friendly mom nudge was all it took. She instantly stood taller, confidently looked the woman in the eyes and said, “Hi”. A smile quickly came to her face and a hands over her head, 1 foot, spinning ballet twirl showed me how happy she was with herself.
My collegue continues to share. My head was still in the computer, but I was listening. I stopped. I looked up, closed the computer and looked her straight in the eyes. A smile came over her face. Her shoulders went back a little. My attention was fully hers.
Eye contact can mean so many different things. Some cultures value it, while some are intimidated or even offended by it. Families put varying levels of importance on it. To me, this prompt, this challenge, this mission reminded me…My eyes.
The simple act of looking someone in the eyes…
It requires confidence in me, confidence in who am and confidence in what I am saying. Making good eye contact makes me stand taller. Most importantly, eye contact shows people I am confident in myself. Eye contact shows people we are confident ourselves. Eye contact shows others they they are important to us. Eye contact gives us all a little more height.
This Just.Be.Enough Post was inspired by the
new Just.Be.Enough Weekly Theme
I am writing, posting and linking up to share my voice.
my part to carry the weight of confidence, empowerment and sharing the mission of empower, inspire and
remind women, parents and children that
the time has come to celebrate ourselves… myself!
It’s your turn now…
share some awesome (you know you want to)...
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comments
This is so true! My husband really needs to learn that listening and still surfing the net/working is not the same as looking at me and listening.
It’s something I have had to practice doing and I am much better at it now.