Ep. 5 - Orchid

Transcript

We need to stop comparing ourselves to the women who are 1 in a million.

Don’t get me wrong, those trail blazing beauties are a thing to behold. But the output they can produce, although it far exceeds anything us mere mortals can do in the same amount of time, should not be what stops us from doing the thing. From running the race at our own pace.

Dr. Aliza Pressman spoke on the Mel Robbins podcast about three types of children. The Dandelion, Tulip, and Orchids. The dandelions don’t need much other than some love and boundaries. The tulips are slow to warm up, but can otherwise do pretty well on their own. And the orchids, oh boy, they need the perfect environment to thrive, but once you give it to them, they are outstanding.

I actually think this concept applies to us as adults as well. Some women are dandelions. They don’t need much except a good wind every once and a while and they will spread everywhere like wild fire. Impossible to stamp out. 

But the rest of us… are orchids… we need tending and watering in order to produce the same results. It may take us orchids 3 years to do what the da ndelions can do in 1… but don’t let that discourage you from moving.

We need to stop holding ourselves back from attemp ting to catch our dreams just because we need a little more support… or watering.

There are some women I know personally who are… truly… unstoppable forces of nature. The sheer level of badassery of these women is… awe inspiring. But if I am truly honest with myself, I will never be those women. They are like these steam engines that somehow still have the energy to plow through a mountain even though they have no more coal and are running on fumes. They are incredible. I, however, am a passenger train that must be stopped before the mountain and wait for a little more coal to arrive before I can chugga chugga on through. 

And that’s ok. The point is to not let the incredible shining stars of our world make you think you can’t just because you can’t do it just as they did. Instead let’s use those women to guide us. Give us inspiration, but not to beat ourselves up because we can’t do it at the same pace. Do the thing. Do it at your pace. Don’t give up. Don’t let comparison to someone else keep you from moving forward.

God forbid if those women ever slow down, us tortoises will slowing start making up ground between us. But if they don’t slow down, then we should also celebrate that! 

10/10 times those unstoppable steam engines will burry my abilities in the ground. No doubt about it. But they fucking deserves it. Just like I deserve to achieve my goals even if I can’t do it at the same break neck speed. 

Open the playing field for yourself. Play the game even if it’s not at a professional level yet. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere.

For those of us that made it to our 30s and 40s before we realized we wanted something bigger, don’t let the other obligations of your life stand in your way. Yes, things will have to be done in a modified fashion at first - kinda like doing push ups on your knees before you can do the big girl push ups. Maybe Wednesday nights is the only free time you have because there is a children’s event every other night and you don’t function well without 8-10 hours of sleep. That’s fine! Don’t not do something because you can only do something at half speed. 

You’re an orchid baby. Own it. Lean into it. Learn what you can from the dandelions and the tulips. Apply those practices as you can. But don’t let not being someone else, make you think the way you are is not enough. Be the orchid. Once you find the right pace, you’ll bloom just as big.