The Women of Listen to Your Mother Indianapolis

Sometimes I still feel like a 7th grader.  Last night was the first rehearsal for my Listen to Your Mother event.  That means showing up to spend the evening with a room full of women you don't know.  I consider myself a pretty outgoing person but there's something about anticipating being in a room full of women you don't know that brings out my 7th grade girl syndrome.  All…...what should I wear, and how's my hair, and what if they're mean or what if I spill my   milk  wine.  Gee, I hope they like me.

Luckily for me, I was 20 minutes late so I got to walk in to a room full of people that had already met and were sitting around a table enjoying a nice dinner.  So I blow in with my go to tactic of sarcasm when I'm feeling rattled.  "Hey all, you can forever refer to me as Late Girl now."  Because isn't that what we typically do, try to find the box that people should fit in to keep us comfortable.

But that's not what happened last night.  I was quickly brought into the group with some icebreakers and introductions and immediately I relaxed and felt safe.  We spent the night reading our pieces that we will present in our Indianapolis Listen to Your Mother event.  Vulnerability on high alert.

We have each written something about motherhood.  We laughed, we cried, we nodded our heads, and we tried to give those that were hurting raw and real the look from across the table that said, "you're good, we're here for you, go for it, we want you to rock."  In two hours we opened our hearts and souls to what previously had been strangers.

In the middle of this event I was so inspired, I literally started dreaming about what more I want to do so I can experience more moments like these; begging to live in this place of love and belonging.  Vulnerability, the place that Brene' Brown has taught us is the birthplace of joy and creativity.  I relished in that cloud last night.

On the way home it occurred to me that we don't often come together for that type of common ground and support.  We spend too much of our lives compartmentalizing. We spend time being the sports family, or the music family, or the church family, or whatever label we purposefully or accidentally slap on our SUV.  Last night was different, last night we gathered for humanity and soul sharing.  I have no idea if those women are democrat or republican, or Christian or Buddhist, or vegan or a fast food junkie.  And I don't care.  I can't wait to spend more time with them and learn from them and feel their spirit joining with mine.

How can we foster this kind of unity?  Is vulnerability our common ground?  Do we need to bare our soul and our humor and our spirit in a really uncomfortable way to finally find our common humanity?  I think yes, because hiding behind our labels and our attacking Facebook posts of anyone that is different and our unrealistic expectations of each other isn't really working.

For now, I'm going to relish in the next few times I get to be with these ladies, because I know they'll make me better.

PS - Buy your tix now so you can see what I'm talking about -
Show and Ticket Info Here