You are Perfectly Good at Being Human - Part 1 (episode 306-1)
She is one RAD woman.
A term from our collective youth, Mel Wilson is the personification of being rad. Being rad is radical - cool, awesome, great.
Yes, she is all those things and more. Mel imparted some serious wisdom during our conversation, like: there’s power in owning your thoughts and they are something no one can ever take away from you. And, our worth is not tied to our results so own your worth. Those are just the beginning.
I left the conversation feeling full, satisfied and with a deep sense of admiration for all Mel had to say. She is definitely unapologetic for who she is. Yes, more of that please for all of us.
Mel is our guest this week in our series What’s with All the Coaches and Why you Might Want One. This is part one of our conversation.
You can find her at Proof not Perfect or email her at Mel@ Proof not Perfect.
Fun. Loyal. Loud.
— Mel Wilson
My Two Values
Thoughts from You are Perfectly Good at Being Human - Part 1
Mel’s three words to describe herself of fun, loyal, and loud reminded me how important word choice is. Yes, Mel is all those things and more. They are a beginning to how we can see her, and how she sees herself. I find it a revealing exercise.
In my car tonight on the way home, I had a long drive ahead of me. I cued up one of my favorite podcasts The Curiosity Shop with Brene Brown and Adam Grant. (I have mentioned them before in previous blogs.) I am reminded, I learn something, and I’m eager to expand every time I listen to them. What does that have to do with word choice? Well let me tell you.
They have been talking a lot lately about distilling your values down to two words. Two words that many other things you hold dear are folded into these two. I viewed this as a great challenge, one I immediately embarked on. It didn’t take too long to try a few on and to land on, Yes, those are the ones. The first is authentic. I can’t begin to share with you how important this is for me. I like it when people are real, whatever that might look like, and I insist on being real in the way I show up, everywhere with everyone. (And yes, that involved layers, but that’s another blog.) Give me tears, give me laughs, give me awkward, give me all that’s genuine for you (and me) in this moment and the ones to come.
When I first started the podcast I identified the values of authenticity, transparency and vulnerability as important to me, the ones I would build the podcast around. As I looked at them in tonight’s light I realize that the latter two can most definitely be sub-categories of being authentic. The definition I just looked up for authentic is: matching your actions with your inner values and beliefs. God, yes, that.
The second value was a little trickier. Do I choose faith because so much springs from that for me? Do I choose encourage because I can’t seem to stop myself when I’m around others help them feel brave to be, to do, whatever? I did like that encourage has the courage in it. But I didn’t get the ‘winner-winner-chicken-dinner’ feel. And then it hit me. Rooted. Yes, rooted is the second value. When I am rooted I am rooted in my faith. When I am rooted I am growing, expanding into all God has for me. When I am rooted I am using all the light, water and nutrients I have been given to share with others that they are capable of the same kind of growth. It will look different on them and that is exactly as it should be. I will grow towards the light, and it is beautiful.
It’s nothing short of fascinating how exciting and fulfilling it is to have chosen two words to claim and proclaim as my values. Authentic and rooted. They were already there, I just needed to take a deeper look at who I am.
