STRONG IS MY BEAUTIFUL: 2024 – WHAT NOW?

Here we are.  Happy New Year!  It’s 2024 and may all your goals and aspirations come to fruition this year.

It’s also a time of the year where folks are feeling pressured and even anxious about goal setting and resolutions and I’m here to tell you, DON’T feel any kinda way.  The fact that we’re all still here and made it to see another year start IS a big deal.  Spin any negative feelings and just say thanks!

My last few months of 2023 I really spent time thinking about Strong Is My Beautiful™ – firstly on how far the brand has come since its inception, the evolution from blog to online store and most of all how many people’s lives it’s touched and/or changed in short period of time.  Last year I really pushed the brand and tried some new things – some ideas stuck and others not so much but those ones I just say: “the world is not ready yet!”

Second is what’s next?  Where do I go from here?  What do I start and stop doing?  So many questions I’m working through already but one real life one I got asked a few days ago here in South Africa: “Is Strong Is My Beautiful™ your main job or source of income Shireen”?  Without thinking or blinking I said it wasn’t even close to being so, but the goal is to get her there and I’m on my way.  The part I didn’t say out loud is that it’s still a long way to go but it’s also the long-term goal so I’m ok with where I’m at.

All of that said, I can’t look ahead without going back to the essence of how she came to be!  I started this blog with some of that story so click here to read and then again included a little more in this piece here.

In short, it started as a mantra and #strongismybeautiful started showing up in my social posts even before I posted that first blog in 2017.  At the time I don’t think I possessed any of the self-confidence I have today or at least enough to do and try the things I have in the last couple of years.  In the beginning, I started living the mantra solo.  Didn’t announce it or share it because at the time it was just for me.  It made me feel good inside knowing that I took lemons and the lemonade was what started fueling me.

Day in and day out I made sure I weaved that mindset into all areas of my life.  It’s gotten me through some tough day to day conversations back in my corporate days and some even tougher conflicts with folks outside of work.  I think I finally realized and believed in what I bring to the table.  Ya’ll might ask or be thinking “how” but fam, it’s a vibe and feeling that must come from the core.  Your core.  YOU have to believe first, and the rest will follow.

During that time I didn’t need to share it and in time it started translating and crossing over into other areas of my life.  People started noticing a shift in my general attitude and how I handled tough conversations and difficult people.  Eventually I started getting asked what I was doing.

It was around that time that I really started believing in my abilities as an athlete and started appreciating the body or vessel I blessed with – to do what I do with it – especially today at age 52!  Yes, you read correctly FIFTY-TWO!  I started later than most so I always believed and still have the mindset that I need to work twice as hard to be noticed or seen.  That’s a me problem but it’s served me well so far.  So many of us (especially women) are afraid of that number but it’s just that, a number.  You’re only as young or old as you feel and the most important thing about getting older and wiser is that it’s a privilege.  We’ve all heard the saying “life is short” and as cliché as it sounds, we all know it’s true am I right?

All of the above starts with you.  Once you believe you can you’re on your way.  For me it was the words that I later turned into a legitimate brand.  Believing that strength is a beautiful thing, and that the beauty part is anything BUT the societal view of what it should be.  The photo below is what started it for me, and I look at it to this day and it’s timeless.  It brought me joy and made feel powerful.  When some guy decided to comment otherwise, I did not let it dim my light.  That was my moment and I’m still driven by that mantra I adopted so many years ago.

The pic that started it all! Photographer: Virgil Barrow

So back to Strong Is My Beautiful™ and what’s next.  Big picture?  The conversation is still alive and many of you have joined in and shared it.  I am so grateful.  I want to spend more time doing that – keeping that conversation going.  The goal for this year is to increase the reach but more importantly make sure people use it to find that moment of ultimate beauty and that strength I keep talking about.

It’s one thing to preach a mantra or share inspirational quotes but each individual needs to have his or her own journey.  You must feel that moment or experience that event that will change your life.  You’ll feel it and it will give you the confidence to make the first move to take that first step on your new path.  Quick reality while I’m on the topic, not everyone will like or support you but once you make that move and commit to it, that’s when you’ll block out the noise because your mission has begun.  Reminder:

YOU ONLY HAVE TO BE GOOD ENOUGH FOR ONE PERSON!  YOU!

I’m excited to continue my own journey this year.  I hope fights are in the cards for me.  I’m ready and I have a stack more fights in me.  My coaching journey has grown over the last 12 months.  I’ve put so much into it and it’s the thing that really makes my heart happy as it aligns with what my brand stands for.

When I was in corporate, I always said my dream one day was to help people and I’m living that dream.

#staystrong #staybeautiful #strongismybeautiful #beyoualways #doyou #keeptheconversationgoing #beyourownkindofbeautiful