This weekend I attended the GEM Conference and besides connecting with like-minded women and talking all things business, entrepreneurship, social media, content planning, there was also space to talk about the movement for Black lives matter.
So before heading into what questions I’ve noticed coming up a lot, I want to talk about Black lives matter first. Because who am I, as an empowerment coach, to stay silent, to not speak up. So I decided to use my words and hopefully make a difference.
I’m not going to say that I understand, because I can’t. I’m white. I’m privileged. I can’t even begin to understand.
I’m also not going to say how I feel, because it’s not about me. It’s about the lives of Black people.
I will say that I will continue to learn and unlearn. I will educate myself on how to be actively antiracist, and I will listen to Black people sharing their experiences. I am willing to get uncomfortable. And I want to ask you to do the same.
Here you’ll find some incredible women, educators, and recourses you can START with:
Google is your best friend, so make sure to start with googling things first.
*I know there is still so much I have to learn and unlearn.
The GEM conference also left me with other things to think about. And during the talks and the overflowing chatbox, I noticed that getting clear on your values (either for our personal or professional life) and on how to figure out your values is something that kept popping up.
And I believe that knowing what our values are, what is important to us, is the foundation for everything. For when we want to start or have started our own business, for when we are about to make some (big) decisions in our job or personal life. Because when we know what our values are, we can quickly assess if a certain decision will honor our values or not. This doesn’t mean that the decision itself will be an easy one, but we will feel it into our core when we’re not living in accordance with our values.
So where do you start when figuring out your values?
Start with thinking about a moment or situation in your life when you felt hopeful. When you felt excited about your dreams, for the things in your life and for yourself. When you felt on top of your world and you were looking forward to the day ahead of you. When you felt like everything fell into place.
Now write down everything you remember about this moment. What you were doing, who was around you, where you were, what your impact was on those around you, what emotions you were feeling. Also include what you remember about the smells, about the colors, music maybe.
Once you’re done writing everything down, read over what you wrote down and start looking for the values hidden in your story.
I would love to hear what values came up for you, so make sure to leave them in the comments.
