BAM! I believe it just hit me!

It’s been a while since I’ve found the inspiration to write an actual blog post. My inspiration’s been lost for a little while. Lost underneath the happenings of life. Buried under the lack of time, the sicknesses of the cold & flu season, work schedules, the regular commitments of life, fashion events, and also under ensuring I do balance it all with some down time. Hey…. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you what it’s like. We all have busy lives.

But sometimes, something or someone comes along and gives you that inspirational poke you need to sit down and find the time to write again. Sometimes you need that reminder as to why you started your blog in the first place. Sometimes the universe sends you a message that you need to get back to what you were doing.

In my case, the universe chose to send it’s message to me via a sista in the ‘Sista With Style’ community. It was just the inspiration I needed. I’ve asked her permission to share the message she sent me with you. In the interests of keeping her identity a secret, let’s just call her George for the rest of this post.

George wrote:

“ Hello sweetheart! Just a quick message to tell you how amazing you are looking. You look like you have lost a lot of weight and look so healthy. I am very proud of you! Stylish and chic is what I see when you strut your stuff. But I see a whole lot more…. I see a wonderful, happy, brave, inspirational woman. I am a 70 year old lady that has raised 7 children. Each and every one of them have made me proud. They are very good citizens (police force, fire brigade, hairdresser, vet nurse, security, printer). All have done me proud going about their jobs with gusto. I refer to you often as I am proud of you also. You make me happy and give me hope. Thanks you. xx ”

Oh….my…. goodness!!!! I was in tears when I read this message. I could just bottle George up!! How do you respond to such a wonderful message? A simple thank you reply hardly seemed fitting. I wanted to send her the hugest bunch of flowers on the planet or find some other grand gesture to repay her. And then it hit me….. this sista deserves a full written blog post about her, her uplifting message and what it means to me.

You see, that right there is the main reason I started this little blog of mine. I wanted to use the ‘ripple effect’ to empower other sistas, helping them to SHINE and be the most confident versions of themselves. Fashion, beauty, travel and other life ramblings just happen to be the tools I use to transfer my messages. Many of you have heard me talk about the ‘ripple effect’ and the ‘pay it forward’ movement before and you know I am passionate about them. After all I have learnt through fighting off cancer, and from all the other life lessons on body image, self-confidence, achieving goals and feeling good about yourself, I felt like I needed to pass it on to other women so they too can be, in the words of George, “happy”.

As a blogger, you often put ‘confidence stuff’ out there into cyberspace, never truly knowing who (if anyone) is really taking it in. Sure, there are analytical statistics to tell you how many people have commented, viewed, clicked on or shared your post, but who truly takes on board the messages you are putting out there is anyone’s guess. George’s message just goes to show that someone IS taking it in and once you cast that positive ‘stone’, you just never know how far that ripple is going to go.

The funny thing about ripples, however, is that they actually come back towards you as well. That’s just the way they work. This is something I knew scientifically, but didn’t really understand metaphorically until George sent her message. Here I am casting my ‘stones’ and ‘paying it forward’. My inspiration and my reason why I do it was getting a little lost and buried. Sure, I receive lovely compliments and positive comments both on the blog and my social media, and I am oh so truly grateful for that. They have kept me chugging along while I was buried. I value each and every one of you in the community, and your comments, and thank my lucky stars you are there. But you just never know when that ripple from the universe is going to come back towards you. All I can say now is…..

BAM! I believe it just hit me!

So thank you, George. Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart for giving me back my inspiration and reminding me why I do what I do. I am so very humbled that my ‘stuff’ does make a difference in someone’s life, that it has meaning and it is worthwhile.

What I want the other sistas in the community to do now, is to help me thank George by casting your own positive ‘stone’. I want you to ‘pay it forward’ to other sistas in the comments below or in the comments in my social media. Tell me in a few short words who is an inspiration to you and why, just like George did to me. I then want you to share this article or the social media post on your social media with the hashtag #helpasistaSHINE . Let’s cast one massive and positive ‘stone’ back out into the universe and create a ripple that is truly powerful. The power of the ‘sista-hood’.

Stay stylish, sistas!