Practicing Loving Whit
When you’re on a journey of self discovery, or for me it’s more accurate to say, self remembrance, how often do you get to practice putting into action what you’ve uncovered? Especially on a bigger “stage” in front of a whoooollllle lotta people.
I had quite the opportunity to practice being true to me and leading with my most authentic self recently.
For the past 3 years I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sum of Us Festival, a wellness festival for queer folks. During this time I’ve served as Partnership Manager, securing sponsorships and bringing vendors into the fold to represent queer businesses at the festival. It has been fun, challenging, celebratory, tiring, and so many other things that doing this work brings to the table. As I’ve mentioned in this blog, I’ve been on an adventure of my own the past few years, diving into who I am, what I want, and how I want to go about my life. And with that type of self work, it inevitably bleeds over into career type work as well.
During last year’s festival I found myself falling back into old patterns I thought I had worked through already. People pleasing by working myself longer and harder than I should have, getting worked up and frazzled over things that were outside of my control, and not communicating directly about what I needed to take care of myself. I did a lot of reflecting about how I showed up last year and vowed to be more true to me this year while still doing the work I set out to do for the fest. I knew it might be uncomfortable not only for myself, but for others to witness as well if they hadn’t decided to take similar steps in their own life.
I can confidently and proudly say that after over a week of being in California for pre-fest setup and festival work, I was true to me, honored my wellbeing, and allowed my heart and highest self to lead the way in all of my interactions and choices I made. I have so much gratitude for past Whit that chose to make different decisions this year. That chose to love myself so fully that the balanced, steady, peace filled love frequency that I carry could shine bright.
Photo by Marisa Sum of Kaname Chiropractic
I left the festival this year feeling even more grounded and confident in who I am and how I show up in the world. Where I once chose actions that had me feeling exhausted and burnt out, I now feel excited and energized from my decision to love Whit. I am so incredibly grateful that I had this opportunity to practice being in integrity with my authentic self and I look forward to putting in more work and practice so this becomes second nature and my new norm for all of my adventures moving forward.
With love and joy, Whit
