Posted on April 27, 2011 by admin

Now here’s the revelation! After introducing “My Wall of Strength” project to the girls this is what I ALWAYS hear:

“This is weird, I never talk about myself this way.”

“I usually focus on other people and what is good about them, not me.”

“It feels funny to describe myself in a positive way.”

“It makes me uncomfortable to talk about myself.”

“Can we focus on someone else?”

“It’s hard to come up with 10. Can we do 1 or 2 instead?”

“I can’t think of anything positive to say.”

“I have no idea, I need your help.”

Does this sound familiar to you? I’m sure it does. These are quite often the very same things we tell ourselves over and over. So why is this important? Because our girls are getting the message loud and clear that says they are not good enough or worthy enough and it is time to give them a different perspective.

Doing this project with the girls has made me realize that many of our girls are armed with very little or NOTHING in their pockets! They have very few things they feel they are successful at, few accomplishments they are celebrating and few qualities or characteristics that they feel good about. Now, we know this is certainly not the truth. But it feels very real to them and therefore it is THEIR truth. When we turn this exercise around and explore the things she doesn’t feel so good about….well, of course those flow freely and easily.

Many of the parents I initially speak with have a list of challenges that they are experiencing with their girls. When it comes down to it most parents say, “I just want her to be happy and feel good about herself.” I couldn’t agree more and in fact I am more committed to this than ever. However, they desperately need our help in filling their pockets. They need to know that it is ok to truly celebrate their successes, that they are worthy of good things and that they are much deeper and beautiful then their physical attributes. They need to hear you celebrate your successes and hear you say positive things about yourself and the people around you. This gives them an idea of how they should treat themselves and interact with their world. And they need this every single day.