"Well-behaved women rarely make history." - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

'Minnesota Nice' is where I came from. Being good and not making waves was always the underlying command. "Don't question, just obey," was also something I heard a lot. Until one day, I said Enough! Well-behaved women didn't change the vote. Well-behaved women don't create to their full potential and well-behaved women never ever do things out of order. We are not cookie-cutter shapes but living breathing souls that have something to say to the world. The world needs us. I look at the countries run by women and the amazing changes they have made. They are ahead of other countries that are run by men. I am not against men but they need the sensitivity and care that we as women can bring to the whole picture. We all need each other.

Let's not be well-behaved, let's get out there and shout our vision to the world. Let's be bad-ass-ed women who chose not to be afraid of who we are meant to be, to embrace the what, the where and the who.

"New skills lend sparkle to our lives." -Julia Cameron

That phrase "New skills lend sparkle to our lives" really gives a feeling of hope and joy.

As most of my friends and family know, I'm not the sharpest tack in the box when it comes to tech. Thinking of it in this way, as a skill that gives sparkle to my life, helps me get a new perspective on that skill. We can also think of old skills that we loved but somehow put aside for whatever reason, and feel the strong desire to pick them up again. I have not oil painted in ever so long and I've been really missing it. It's like if I don't sketch, there is a hole in my spirit that needs to be filled and if I don't get back to it, I will feel such a deep loss.

What skills can we pick up, new or old that can bring us joy. Even taking ten minutes a day to make a start can really feel healing.

Just do it!

It can feel like prison

As time passes and we are often told we can't leave home, it can feel a bit like we are prisoners in our own house. It's easy to forget that we still have choices. We can be something more than we are in normal situations. We have time to think about what we really want with our lives, what we care about and how we can go about making our dreams happen.

At times like these it's good to think of the individuals who changed the world while in actual prison. Nelson Mandela secretly penned his autobiography, Martin Luther King wrote his eloquent "Letter to Birmingham Jail" to clergy who did not see the injustice he was fighting. Marco polo with the help of writer and fellow prisoner Rustichello of Pisa wrote "Descriptions of the World", also known as "Travels". John Bunyan wrote "The Pilgrims Progress" and Miguel de Cervantes wrote "Don Quixote", that wonderfully imaginative tale of strange knighthood.

So what am I going to do during this time of challenge and sheltering in place. I love chocolate, I could sit around watching movies all day noshing on chocolate or I could take time to realize my dreams. I can bring that story that's been stewing in my brain for a while, to life. I can create the garden I've always dreamed about. I can even start a business. You can learn just about anything with YouTube. Today is the day to start! We can change the world one ten minute segment at a time.