Thank you Marilee for being on the People On Dating Podcast.
About Marilee
I am Marilee Grace. Author. Speaker. Founder and Lead Life Transformation Coach at RightSwipeGirl. But how did I get here? I'm glad you asked! Grab your favorite beverage and pull up a chair. Let's chat
Early Dreams
For almost as long as I can remember, I wanted to be two things when I grew up: a Rockette and a Writer. It was my dream to dance on the stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York City and be on the New York Times bestseller list. Cool if it was at the same time! I guess if I was going to dream, it might as well be BIG, right?
Well, a whole lot of life happened between those little girl dreams and RightSwipeGirl. Maybe you can relate… My best guess is it started as a slow shift. I think I was about 10 years old. Confident, ornery, curious… But I slowly started to listen to the negative voices. You know the ones.
The ones that judge you. That tell you that you aren't good enough. Pretty enough, Thin enough, Smart enough.
The ones that whisper, “What makes you think you can accomplish that big dream?”
I didn’t just listen to them, I slowly started to believe them. And slowly, I got smaller and smaller. Quieter and quieter.
In my early thirties, after several years of marriage, my smallness became more noticeable to those who knew me best…
MY MOM WOULD SAY TO ME, “I JUST WANT YOU TO FIND YOUR JOY AGAIN.”
I figured I was busy with life, trying to be a perfect a wife and mother. I was busy. This is how it is for women. It is just the role we are given in this season of our lives, right? Joy would be there when I wasn’t so busy trying to juggle this life. I remember yearning for a particular moment in time. A snapshot caught up in my memory. The last time I felt sheer, unbridled joy. “If I can just hang on. If I can just keep that picture in my mind. I can find that moment again.
I just need to get through all this yucky stuff and I’ll have time and a way to get back there.” It was a picture perfect place in my mind… a time before everything went haywire. I truly wanted joy in my life again, but I didn't have a clue how to get there. I thought maybe just time, enough time would pass and I’d magically be taken there again, to a place full of joy. Honestly, it would have to be magical and just happen because I was so exhausted in all areas of my life and I didn't have the capacity to even try to figure it out.
