“Don’t be afraid to shine. Your light can encourage someone else to do the same.” – The Buxom Beauty

Last week I attended a training course for work that involved those dreaded “team exercises.” I consider myself to be a people person and I have no issues with working as a team – well, at least I thought so. Actually, I don’t mind it when it involves familiar information. The course I participated in presented new material and I was out of my comfort zone. And instead of embracing this as an opportunity to broaden my horizons, I chose to shy away from it initially.

I was grouped with four other individuals who are in a different career field than me. They were all technical experts – I do not speak their jargon and I felt out of place. I allowed the difference in our trades to hinder me from being myself and sharing my voice. At the conclusion of day one I realized I was making a huge mistake.

The title of this post reads, “I eat wings with a knife and fork” because I do. I know a lot of people consider that to be ridiculous, bourgeois, and even strange, but it is what I choose to do. I gave a lot of thought to my behavior during day one of the training course and I realized I was not practicing what I write about. I have passionately expressed the importance of being who we are while giving no regard to the thoughts of others, but I was doing the exact opposite. I was concerned about what they were thinking about me.

Being who I am goes beyond accepting the fact that my thighs are large and I am thick in the middle. Being me also involves who I am mentally and spiritually. It involves recognizing we all have different talents and strengths. Just because I am not tech-savvy, or knowledgeable in some areas, does not lessen my intelligence or abilities.

So, just like I eat my wings with a knife and fork, I will share my voice regardless of the platform. The fact of the matter is, we can all learn from each other. My voice is just as important as yours and vice versa. If I am going to be Towanda I need to be so at all times, and that is a beautiful thing.

Until the next time be you, and most importantly – love you.

Being uniquely you is being uniquely beautiful.

B.B. –