Why community is everything
A journey from bullied redhead to an acroyogi entrepreneur
I don’t know if you realize it but growing up as a redhead, aka ginger, is not easy. Middle school was some seriously challenging times in my life as I was constantly teased by a few classmates just because I was different; just because I had red hair.
By high school, that teasing mostly went away but those 2 or 3 years were actually pretty traumatizing and definitely have elements of shaping my personality today. I struggled with connecting with people, with dating, and having the confidence to make friends or feel included at parties.
It’s taken so many years to overcome that fear of feeling like I don’t belong. When I first moved to New York City, I struggled a lot to make friends and for about a year I felt lonely in a city with 8 million people.
Community was the turning point
It wasn’t until I found the #acroyoga community that things really started to turn around for me. My friend Lindsey Fong introduced me to this new activity and it was so addicting that I still haven’t stopped. And now I can do things I never even though were possible.
Acro Yoga has given me so much. I started to make friends, started to work on tricks together, started to have fun, and I felt included in something that was bigger than me.
Over the years since, I have step by step put in the effort to become a bigger part of that community and others, including now the Nomad Cruise community, the Ivy community, and the entrepreneur community.
Gratitude and Teaching
More on those communities later, but the girl sitting on my shoulders in the above photo has been a huge part of that process. Nikki has taught me a lot about gratitude and given me the confidence to teach others both acroyoga and just things about life.
In fact the 90 Day Content Challenge might not be happening right now if it wasn’t for a retreat she and Stephanie put together in Brazil recently. Thank you Nikki for being a huge part of my life, being my friend and helping shape it with all of your light and energy you give to others.
So I encourage you to go out today and start to build your community. Start to be a part of something bigger than you and start to realize that we are all part of something huge; it’s called planet Earth and we are all in this together.
And realize that because you are different, you are special. Don’t feel any shame because of that.
