“All boats rise with the tide”

I have thrown this quote out a couple times when chatting with others about leadership and empowerment. I am not sure if I read a version of this on a Pinterest inspirational board, or if I created my own version. Either way, it seems to make sense to me about people and living life.

“all boats rise with the tide”. The tides of everyday life come in and go out on regardless of our attempts to control them. Sometimes they are rough and scary and other times calm and peaceful. Everyone has to rise and fall with the waves of life, and we all start drowning at some point. I have been drowning more times than I want to share. I have made repeated poor decisions, I have intentionally said things to hurt someone, I have cheated, I have lied, Lets just say, I own a rainbow of sins. Some the same as others and many I own alone.

When I look back on all of my learning opportunities or mistakes or “failures”, all I see is that somehow I bounced back. I immediately go back to something my mother said to all of us from birth. “Pick yourself up by your boots straps and keep on walking”. Most of the time it is so much easier said than done. Yet that advice has rung in my head every single time I trip or fall in life. It’s either that or curl up and be defeated. And well, that’s just never gonna happen.

I love when I get to watch other people implement this saying in their own lives. They trip or fall, but pick themselves back up and keep on going and are stronger for it. I have had the honor of watching so many of my girlfriends do exactly this in their own divorces. Watching someone you love who is hurting and in despair, reclaim their power and create a new normal, is one of the most incredible feelings to know that you reminded them of who they were so they could grow, because all boats rise with the tide.

Much love and respect.

Xo -e