If you follow me on Twitter chances are you’ve already seen this picture, but I needed something to help illustrate what words nearly can’t.

It’s  been a hell of a week and while I have a smile on my face, I needed armor. Truth be told I’ve needed a chain mail suit to buffer the rat-a-tat-tat of health hurdles, work challenges and logistical knots, in other words, it’s been a typical week for a mom of three, business owner two times over and a person intent on doing more than is reasonable/rational. <sigh>

I’ve found myself feeling like a delicate tea kettle, circumstances each day bringing me to a rattle that feels like it might shatter me. Day after day the thing that makes me nod ever so slightly as if to say, “Actually, I think I can do this,” is that I am making an effort to go face-to-face with what scares me and, gasp, dress for the occasion. Sweaty palms, trembling limbs and a let’s-get-it-over-with resolve and then before I know it, I have survived.

You see that wrist up there? It’s got a bangle on it. Actually it’s a necklace, but I figure being as tall as I am, I can rock a necklace on my wrist. Also, bracelet makers of the world, maybe you could make a bracelet to fit around my wrist? I can’t be that much of a mutant.

I’ve been finding my voice, both at work when I feel scared and at home when I feel selfish. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really like these tests, but I do like the pattern of getting it over with and making the time. All those quotes hinting at the idea of seeing the reality you want to achieve are kind of spot on. Slouching around the house without a bra or shuffling into work with wet hair? It’s fine, you can call it liberating, but at some point you have to own the fact that in order to own it, you have to own it.

To-do lists mount, failures breed, jeans and hoodies beckon, but I dare you to try standing tall, doing your hair and strutting right up to that thing you fear and telling it, “You don’t own me.”