This is the inaugural blog post for Wolf & Wildflower. We focus on empowering women to be their best, most authentic selves in a world that makes it difficult. We feel that it’s time to start a self-love revolution – one that encourages women to live out loud in a way that feels good, honest, and authentic.
The “world” we refer to is society, and our society is actually pretty hostile to women. Unfortunately, women are as culpable as men. We’ve been conditioned to judge other women, and sometimes we’re our own worst enemy.
Media, peer groups, and intrinsic messages all tell us that women need to be more…until they need to be less. They tell us we’re too soft-spoken…until we’re too loud. They tell us that we need to be comfortable in our skin…until the skin we’re in doesn’t fit their mold. They tell us that we’re too hard…until they don’t like how emotional we are. They tell us smart women are the best…until men feel threatened by those smart women.
Mixed messages are leaving women absolutely exasperated because no matter what we do, it’s not enough. We are not enough.
Wolf & Wildflower is here to connect women, to motivate and inspire, to teach and help women grow. We’re here to change the landscape of society, and we’re going to help women be their best, most authentic selves while taking up space in this world. We have a right to take up that space, to use our voices, to be exactly who we are!
My name is Tracy, and I’m the founder of this woman-centric business. I feel a fiery passion in my soul to inspire women to know that they are enough exactly they way they are. When I was in my early twenties, I was dating a man who told me that I needed to be “less me.” I was loud, I took up space, and I was very much myself. After that moment, I began to be less of myself, and more of what I was expected to be.
I married that man, and it was only the beginning of regularly being shushed and made to feel like I was too much. Every single time, I was felt smaller and smaller. I felt stifled.
Sadly, he wasn’t the only person to make me feel like I was “too much.” Society did that too, with messages that I was too loud, bossy, and aggressive.
Why? Why would me being exactly who I am be considered so “much” that it would warrant people actually voicing their displeasure? And a better question to ask is…why did I care?!
We’re usually conditioned to care, and it starts in childhood. We’re told to be nice to others regardless of how we feel. We’re told to give Uncle So-and-So a hug, even if it makes us uncomfortable. We’re told to respect our elders, even they don’t deserve that respect. We’re told to obey authority, even when the authoritative figures abuse their power.
In other words, we’re taught that our feelings don’t matter, and that other people command respect (which is what is all boils down to, really.) No wonder we grow up to value the opinions of others!
It takes an incredible amount of bravery and determination to decide that you don’t have to live that way anymore. For me, it took bravery, determinations…and a couple decades to finally realize my own worth (and yes, I did leave that man, by the way) and now I’m absolutely determined to help other women find their worth. To live out loud, to be authentic, to take up space, and to love who they are.
So I want to say welcome, welcome. Come in - and know that this is a safe place where you can be exactly who you are. Where you will not only feel comfortable, you will be celebrated.
This is Your Time.
This is Our Time.
This is Wolf & Wildflower.
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