While I was studying make-up, I went to live in Toronto for seven months to attend an international make-up college. I’ll never forget what our instructor said to our class of about 25 students (and very new friends) on our first day: ‘There might be a lot of you sitting in this room now, and when you graduate, you’ll likely all be working in similar circles. But don’t let that hold you back; there’s always room at the top.’
I’ll never forget that phrase: There’s always room at the top. It means there’s always room for good work. There’s always room for your work.
Sure, there’ll always be someone who does what you do, who’s done it for longer, who you think does it better, in some way. But they’ll never do it like you, and there is always space for you—if you make it.
To believe there’s space for us too, we have to call our energy—and our power—back to ourselves.
We have to have to be grateful for those who’ve gone before us and shown us the way. We have to have faith and trust in our own life path. We have to have the courage to be happy for those who have what we desire, instead of crushing ourselves under the weight of our own comparison.
To clear the comparison that can crush us, we have to believe in ourselves and our abilities. We have to move through the resistance that tries to keep us firmly rooted in place.
We have to know that our best work can live inside us for only so long. It needs a place to thrive outside us; it craves a way to support us by becoming an extension of ourselves, not by staying stagnant within.
There’s always room at the top; and the top is every level you reach when you do your best work.
And there’s always more ‘top’ to reach, because there’s always more work to create and share. I don’t say that to make you fear you need to ‘hustle’ to the top. I say it in the sense that the more you create, the more you can create! Creating gives you confidence, and your confidence helps you create more. It’s a magnificent cycle, when you let yourself tap into it.
And oh, you can! You can tap into it by creating your own version of the top, and by looking to the people you admire, and trusting that if there’s space for them, there’s space for you too. There’s space for you and for your work, your message and your voice, because there’s always room at the top.
Remember, the top is every level you reach when you do your best work—so go do that.
Every time I write a book, I evolve as a person. I change my mind about things; I open my eyes to other perspectives; I expand what I thought was possible for me; and I connect with the part of me that can’t truly explain what it feels like to put fingers to keyboard and let my deepest self come through, in words I don’t even know I’ll write until I see them in front of me.
There came a time when I was tired of obsessing over how I explained what I did through my work; what labels I gave myself; what I put on my business card. There came a time when I knew I had to step out of defining myself by what I did; that was one piece of me, but not who I was as a whole, and not who I am.
When you put your heart on your sleeve through your creative work and soul work (however it shows up for you), it’s all too easy to start thinking of yourself as your business, your work, your writing, your art. However, I’ve learnt time and time again that while we can put our all into these projects, that doesn’t mean we put everything in—we are still separate.
This means that if social media numbers go up or down, you still know you are enough.
If sales aren’t as high as you anticipated (or dreamed about), you still know you are enough.
If things don’t go the way you planned in your daily planner, you still know you are enough.
If no-one buys your art, gives you the promotion, acknowledges your hard work, says you did a great job, wants to hire you … you still know you are enough
Your worth doesn’t fluctuate with your bank balance. It doesn’t fluctuate depending on how many spots you sell in a program, or how often you spoke up in the office today, or how many people want to work with you/hire you/buy your work.
It doesn’t fluctuate, because your worth is innate, and there’s nothing you can do to change that.
The reverse is also true. You’re no more worthy when your bank account is fuller, lusher. You’re no more deserving when you sell more spots in a program, or fill an art gallery with people eager to purchase your art, or get a raise or promotion.
The issue is that our ego sometimes gets in the way, and then if things fluctuate, we can believe it’s our fault that things haven’t gone to plan. We take the lows too personally, because we took the highs too personally.
Perhaps the difference is that when you allow yourself to receive more, that’s when you know, trust and honour your worth more, and you communicate this to others as well as to yourself. When you feel more worthy, you have the confidence to speak up, to be seen, to be heard, to show up, step up and take the actions that’ll draw in, create, and allow you to receive incredible opportunities, abundance, joy and more.
Maybe if you trusted your enoughness now, you’d make space to call that in. Because you know you are enough, and because you know you’re worthy of taking action, and of receiving. That way, you can flow with any fluctuations; you won’t take the downs too personally, and you won’t take the ups too personally.
Do this by continuing to align your energy, clear away fears, call in what’s next, show up, own your gifts, share them with the world, and love what you create.
Thank you for reaching this part; the part where I thank you for being here, for showing up, for making waves in your own life and work, and for honouring yourself, so that you inspire others to honour themselves too.
By reading this book, taking action, clearing your blocks, aligning to what you truly want, and letting yourself receive it (or something better), you’re leaps and bounds ahead of where you started (while simultaneously, always being exactly where you need to be).
You’re truly and deeply allowing yourself to become aligned and unstoppable, in the best possible way.
It’s time to stand in your absolute power, and commit to yourself and your dreams, following your own light—in your own way.
I can’t wait to see what you do next*.
So much love,
*Or what you don’t do. Remember? You’re allowed to do stop, drop and chill, whenever you need.