{unicorn}

Bravery has many different faces.  Like one gigantic costume shop, life expects us to find our mask.  Not the mask that hides us, but more the mask that protects us.  The face that gives us the courage to move through hard & effort better.  Oftentimes, we confuse the meaning for the mask we wear. We place it on our faces, peek out and feel hidden.  And life is missed.  All because the mask of us was used incorrectly.

I look at the mask like the kind a knight wears headed into battle.  Tin studded & welded strong, this armor fits my face for the fight.  The fight against evil.  Against wrong doing. Against the hatred & the holy-used-insincere too.  I see my mask as the guardian of my good and the holy that lives inside who I am. And the more I polish the purity & protection of me, the better equipped I am to live bravely.  For myself and for others.

My mom wrote me a letter when I was 12 years old.  In the hand written wrinkled pages I would not see until I was 18, she asked me to grow up making my "Meghan Statement".  She encouraged me to find the rhythm of my heart and match my outward steps to those inside beats. She even noted that the more that I fell in love with my rhythm, the easier it would be for others to find theirs.

Today's contributing author is the face of bravery.  She is gentle and pure joy in every way possible.  When I first met her 20 years ago, I fell in love with her heart and then I became acquainted with her soul. You see, her heart is her mask.  It's where she finds her rhythm. And like many humans experience, she lost her beats for just a time.

Please welcome a woman of courage to the blog today.  An individual who has fought to find her steps and fall in love again with her inside beats. I am honored to have Ms. Jeanna Beck share her story.

If you do a google search for the word “unicorn”, you’ll find various descriptions: wild, magical, ferocious, fearless, strong, powerful, and a symbol of purity and grace. Are they real? It depends on who you ask. My answer is that you have to BELIEVE.

My love for unicorns all started with a rainbow. A rainbow that appeared out of nowhere after I’d been sitting for hours at one of my favorite spots in Oahu, Spitting Cave. I took a two week trip to Hawaii a few months after my marriage fell apart.

I was broken and lost and I didn’t really know what I was doing with my life. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t look myself in the mirror without thinking and saying hateful things. It was the first time in my life that I truly felt lost. I had fallen into a deep, dark hole and the dirt was slowly caving in around me. Hawaii was my two week escape from life.

Spitting Cave became an almost daily ritual for me. I would find my spot on the rocks, perched high above the ocean, and I would sit. I would journal. I would cry. I would write until my hand cramped or until I was crying so hard that I couldn’t write anymore. It was during one of those moments when I had been crying for what felt like an eternity, that a rainbow appeared. Not just a dim, barely able to see it kind of rainbow, but a bright, bold, I’m making a STATEMENT kind of rainbow. I have no doubt in my mind that it was meant for me. It was my BIG saying to me, “I’ve got your back. You can do this. You’re amazing. You’re beautiful. Focus on love. Find happiness. Live your life. Climb the mountain and you’ll find big, beautiful rainbows on the other side.” 

I have no idea why, but shortly after seeing the rainbow, an image of a unicorn came to mind. The first thing I thought was “BELIEVE”.

Believe that I can do this.

Believe that I’m worth it.

Believe that I will find happiness again.

Believe that I will learn from this incredible pain.

Believe that I am enough.

Believe that I can climb the mountain.

Believe that I will find peace again.

Believe that I will ROCK this.

Believe that there is a world waiting on the other side that is so incredibly beautiful that I can’t even possibly begin to imagine what it looks like.

It was in that moment that I decided that “rainbows and unicorns” would become my new life mantra.

Unicorns and the idea that I just had to BELIEVE were exactly what I needed to lift me out of the hole.

We all need something to believe in. What is it that you need to believe? Whatever it is, no matter how far-fetched or absurd it sounds, just BELIEVE. It’s amazing what happens in life when you start thinking positively, focusing on the good and believing in yourself. I’m a firm believer in that what you choose to focus on becomes your reality.

Unicorns are the reminder for me to BELIEVE. Today I believe in a lot of things.

I believe in the GOODNESS OF PEOPLE. When my heart bursts wide open and I thought there was no way that it could be put back together again, my people responded. In BIG ways.

I believe in LOVE. Respond to the world and those around you with love and you’ll always win.

I believe in SELF AFFIRMATIONS. Tell yourself that you’re a wild, magical, fearless, strong, powerful, and graceful unicorn and you become one. BELIEVE, people.

Most importantly, I finally believe in ME. Now when I look at myself in the mirror, I see a unicorn. A badass unicorn.  I believe in FORGIVENESS. Not for others, but for me. I deserve peace.

My friend Emily recently said to me, “We should create a whole world….Unicornia. Where only happy people with happy thoughts are allowed and all negativity is shunned.”  I couldn’t agree more.

Find your UNICORN and be happy.

Life.  Dig it. 

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