Failure can be a motivator but also a hinderance if you allow it. Women have so many fears. One of the fears we experience is the fear of failure. How will you do the things that need done? If you fail, what will everyone say? With facing fears comes with challenges. In this buying society could you be all you could be but also a minimalist? Shannon is learning to forge ahead, trust herself, and be her own woman! That’s not always an easy task! Let’s dive into Shannon’s story a little more!
Minimalistic Approach to Life
This is not for faint of heart. A minimalist believes in only the necessities. The concept that less is more. Most people do more is more approach. A minimalist isn’t one to buy for the sake of buying. They are more concerned with sticking to the basics. I personally know that’s not for me but I love what a minimalist stand for. If nothing else if you’re not able to be a minimalist I would encourage you to find smaller ways of eliminating waste out of your life. Cutting back on spending money, shopping your own house before making purchases!
No Buy Year, Do You Have it in You?!
According to Shannon:
We just started a “No-buy year” which has been and interesting endeavor. We blog about our minimalist lifestyle: living minimally so that we can live and experience fully, whether that is through travel, and/or our adventures. We thought a “no-buy year” would be a great way to analyze our spending habits, and have a fasting/withdrawal of the things that just become routine, no thought considered, and to improve overall. We want to make it a habit of living more intentionally. It’s not necessarily about saving money, though, that’s a bonus, but to lessen our carbon footprint. We are sharing our experience every on our blog each month, coupled with a vlog (that will be very new to us since we haven’t ever done any vlogging 😉 ) and hope that we can encourage others to live more intentionally, and be more focused on living their dreams!
Now in case you want to know their personal guidelines to their no buy year click the link! I was impressed to be honest. A woman on a mission to do better, live better, and in the meantime it will end up saving them in the long run! I’m always on team save! To do all of this takes dedication. We all need to learn to live with intention. However we are people who live with overconsumption with things and items that don’t matter! Let’s change that!
Listening to Yourself
Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t trust your gut?! You end up feeling sick to your stomach because you didn’t trust your own voice. Shannon has had the same experience. You get so caught up listening to every other person! You put more stock in what you’re being told that your own voice gets quieter. Shannon describes the moment she didn’t,
Trust my gut, my inner voice! In the past, I put the advice of others ahead of my own decision-making for myself. I still value many trusted people’s opinions, and the camaraderie of those who may have walked in the path ahead of me, but too many times I have not listened to my own gut, that voice in head that tells me to do something, to take that chance, or to walk away when I should, and not listening has caused me to not take chances, or vice versa. However, I do know that those lessons have made me a stronger woman. My eyes are open to recognizing the strength of my own outward, physical voice, but also the inner voice, the trusted “gut” and that makes me feel powerful!
Apply the Lesson
Shannon isn’t the only one who has had to take that step back and figure herself out. Women are always being told that what they should wear, act, or how to react. It’s such a hard time to separate who you are or are becoming and walk in that space while respecting those who have come before you. So how do you apply this take charge lesson? You need thick skin to be able to tune everyone out!
Where Are My Independent Women?
Cue in Beyoncé and all other artist who have songs that outline the ability to pay your own way, do your own things, and stay in your own lane. However, independence isn’t something that comes to you from simply aging. Everyone has their own definitions of what it means to be independent. For me it’s being able to call the shots of my life. This hasn’t always been the case and nor for Shannon either!
I wish I would have learned at a much earlier age to own my independence. I felt the drive and desire to be my own person, to do my own thing, but I had so much fear of failing. I wish I would have known that fear was as scary as it gets. Failing, is just failing. If you fail, you just get back up again, and start over, improve, and try again. Can you imagine what we could all do, if we weren’t afraid of failing? We need to ask ourselves that, and just go do that!
Failure and Independence
Failure and independence go together. Those growing pains of learning to make your own paths means that in a way you will fail but fail gracefully. I would rather fail trying to carve my own path than to soar by joining the crowd any day. This notion that there’s no grace as you fail has got to be stopped with women. The toughest lessons you add to your arsenal of gifts comes from failing. Don’t be afraid!
Brand Building
One of the struggles I had when I started the blog was thinking it was a hobby and that it wasn’t a brand. Brands like Shannon states, are people, ideas, etc. I wanted to know how Shannon sees herself as a brand?
I think the most difficult thing in building a brand is asking yourself, first, what sets yourself apart from the others, and then how will you build brand recognition? Brands are not companies anymore, people are brands, pets are brands, places are brands, so really drilling down into the exactly what is different about our specific brand, and why, has been the biggest challenge, but we’re working through it.
Figuring it Out as You go Along
Did you catch that Shannon doesn’t have it all figured out? That’s one thing about life. Even for A typical personalities, you don’t have to have every single moment preplanned. Life will gift you the answers you seek. It doesn’t have to be carved out perfectly. Trust the process but continue on!
Everyday Hustle
I’m all for the hustle and bustle of life however I’m all for hustling a little smarter. We all have another woman of whom we look up to. They inspire us to be out best selves.
For Shannon,
My mom- that woman has more hustle in her pinky than most desire to ever have in their lifetime. She raised me and my brother as a single mother, working 3 jobs, hardly ever slept, and after she made sure that we both went to college, only then, did she go back and go to college herself. She graduated with a teaching degree, and at age 56, she became a first time teacher. I have more respect for that woman’s hustle, than anyone in the world! I own the fact that I am a hustler! When anyone asks me where I got it from, I always say, ” I got it from my mama!”
Yes nothing like your mom being someone you can count on and look up to. It’s a gift!
Self Care and Motivation
We need to exercise in a great level of self care in order to be successful. This notion that we are super women that have to have it all together, never have issues, or can’t save ourselves is gone. We have to first take care of ourselves!
For Shannon,
it’s all about my mornings. I enjoy the quiet time when no one is awake. I take my my pup, Betty White, for a walk down by the water, meditate, stretch, have my Zen time. Then as the world wakes up, I put my earbuds in, play Spotify’s “This is SWV” station, and walk/dance/sing my way back home and gear up for my day!
I love SWV they get the day going for sure. Shannon’s motivation comes from:
Gratitude. I have an app that prompts me each morning to enter what I am grateful for. Recognizing something I am grateful for makes me feel motivated to keep going. There is something about typing the words out of appreciation for someone, or something that motivates me to keep going!
Shannon is out here paving her own way, living a minimalist life, finding her voice, taking care of herself, surround herself with an amazing circle of encouragement, trying new things, and still without having it altogether is moving ahead and finding her way. For all of that; we honor your commitment to making life what you want it to be!
You make me and every other woman proud! May we support you in every way possible!
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