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Jennifer Diane Young

I am crafter, dreamer, planner, and entrepreneur.

To Be Or Not To Be…You

This year has been about pursuing “This is Me”, my identity. Since I’ve invited God to show me who I am, it’s been a heavy battle of letting go of what I’ve believed about myself in exchange for the truth of who He has already created me to be.

If I’ve always been who He says I am, then the question I have to ask myself is: What has kept me from fully embracing it all this time? I believe that false humility has played a significant role in my denial of who I am. False humility hides behind an incorrect perception of humility. False humility is pride cloaking itself as humility. For example, do you often disagree with people when they pay you a compliment or have some kind of rebuttal? Yep, that’s false humility.

I think there is a constant underlying fear of either being perceived as arrogant or not being good enough. In reality, true humility admits the truth. Pride blinds, distracts, and slows down the process of growth. I’ve said in the past that it’s not the truth that hurts but the removal of pride that leaves a powerful sting.

While reading a book called ‘The Marketplace Paradigm”, I realized that I never gave myself permission to be successful. Some part of me withheld the possibility of actually seeing my visions come to pass. It was a turning point in my thinking. I decided that I’m finished pretending I can’t have it all. I am supposed to dream big and have the audacity to believe it can be done. I’ve had to admit that I’ve placed limits on my God-given potential.

It is never too late to get it. God has been waiting for this moment. He has been waiting for you to align yourself with the truth and allow it to set you free. In this freedom you don’t count yourself out and decide that someone else is more qualified. In this freedom you assume that He has set you up for success.

I finally admit that I am a gifted artist and speaker. I challenge you to no longer ignore the compliments and affirmation that come your way. People notice what you are good at and have a tendency to tell you. Ask a co-worker, friend or family member to tell you what they see in you. There is nothing that you lack in gifts. They point you to who you are.

What visions have God played on repeat all your life? What are you passionate about? Take a moment to wholly accept who you are and give yourself permission to just ‘be’. Don’t let false humility get in the way. It’s time to finally admit how truly incredible you are.

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Failing At Failure

What would my life look like without insecurity and the fear of failure? Who would I be? I asked myself this before starting an internal journey of uncovering what truly makes me who I am. Since then, I’ve been placed in situations that have caused me to analyze my life from a different vantage point. God’s point-of-view.

In the past 3 years, I’ve experienced a lot of changes, loss, and transition. This has caused me to question what I want out of life and if I’m even on the right track. Was I as creative as I thought? Do I really want to pursue the big dream of building a successful creative lifestyle and events business? Distrust in my ability to make big things happen in my life had subtly settled in. Last fall, after a particular bout of self-doubt and tears,  I decided that these feelings of defeat could not possibly match God’s perspective of who I am and what I am capable of.

On the final day of a conference I recently attended I had a breakthrough in my perspective. Ryan Leak shared about his experience with “chasing failure” and how it doesn’t mean anything more than the fact that you tried something. I finally understood what God has been trying to get me to understand for months if not years. I thought that failure was a something negative that you avoided at all cost. Rather, it’s a natural part of the process of success. When you really think about it, what is so bad about failure? What does criticism of others matter in the face of what God thinks?

I’ve realized that I’ve been holding back in areas of my life because of a sense of inadequacy that had gone undetected. From relationships to the pursuit of entrepreneurship, my perspective about myself clearly did not match who I truly am.

Here are some recent revelations:
1. I have never experienced lack in my life. It may not have looked or came the way I thought, but God has always come through for me.
2. You cannot help who you are not around. Despite all the ways I can fail people, I have to have grace for myself. I can make an impact in people’s lives if I get over myself enough to be present. The world is waiting for me to be who I am called to be.
3. Not having excuses is the scary part. Persevering and attaining my dreams is up to me and no one else. I have to recognize that I’m not in this alone and that God has given me the resources and support I need to do well. It can be done.

What would the absence of fear and negative ideas reveal about you? The things that don’t work out are not necessarily an indicator of the final outcome. Don’t be discouraged; brave on. God has set you up to win.  I leave you with the question Ryan Leak asked an arrested crowd of 8,000 people:

“What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”

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Confessions of a Recovering People Pleaser

In a previous post I talked about how 2016 will be the year of “This is Me”. My hope is to finally see myself the way God sees me and unashamedly live my life out loud. My turning point came after being pressed to look back at one of the most uncertain times of my life: My parents’ divorce when I was 10 years old.

The divorce shook my world. When you come out of a divorce as complex and volatile as my parents’, it’s natural to find ways to cope. In the aftermath, I felt it was my job to keep everyone happy.  I used to work hard to please both of my parents. When I couldn’t, I focused on pleasing one. Approval seeking became a way of life. If I didn’t get it from one place, I somehow sought it from another.

I had become a people pleaser.

I had become a people pleaser. It was the only way I knew how to navigate in a world that had become unrecognizable. People pleasers have a way of living in the open yet remain hidden at the same time. I never wanted to let others down and tended to hide my true feelings to keep the peace. It was a deep-rooted mentality that subconsciously ruled my life.

For a long time, I’ve sought the approval of certain individuals despite my desire to seek only Gods’. Now I can see the many times I’ve said ‘yes’ when I should have said ‘no’ out of fear of disappointing others or being perceived as uncaring. I know that I am capable of incredible things yet I have doubted my ability to be successful at them.  I’ve feared that I won’t live up to the vision that God has given me.

people pleasing quote

It’s difficult to break out of a mindset you’ve lived out of for decades. Despite the sense of familiarity and safety in it, I decided to make a choice and allow God to challenge my thinking. To search my heart and reveal what has held me back from truly living out loud.

I’ve never felt freer than I do today. I value myself and choose to no longer play down my gifts. I understand now that my ‘no’ is just as powerful as my ‘yes”. I recognize what has been within me: bravery. I want to shout from a mountaintop “I get it now”! As a recovering people-pleaser, I invite you to break away from the approval seeking that comes from self-doubt. Allow God to bring truth and balance to your world. When you set your heart on what pleases God, everybody wins including you.

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The Year of “This Is Me”

this is me

This is breakout year!  2015 had uncovered some untruths about my personal value. Hidden in a small shadowed place was the belief that I was only valuable to people for what I could do for them rather than for who I am. Unwittingly, I’ve managed to carry this idea around and view life from its lens for many years. This deep hurt came from past experiences growing up in the confusion of divorce and other factors that I hadn’t fully acknowledged. It’s caused me to shy away and sometimes hide the best parts of me.

My freedom came in the form of telling God that I wanted my self-perception to match His perception of me. In 2016, I am still making that request to God. It’s painful to admit, but I need to find out why certain things bother me so much. When God searches your heart, He leaves no stone unturned. Thankfully our amazing Father knows how to transform us by taking us through different seasons.

This year, or season, is about my identity. It’s not so much about knowing who I am, but rather, understanding what that means. It’s about fully embracing how I’ve been created without apology. It’s about the phrase “I’m too much” no longer leaving my lips. 2016 is a picture of me raising my hands, laughing without embarrassment, pursuing without comparison, and slapping fear with truth.

What would happen if I owned up to everything that makes me who I am and no longer held back? What would my life look like if I valued my voice and shared my thoughts in the workplace? How much more would my business accelerate if I didn’t shy away from opportunities because of a fear of rejection? The exceptional life I want is possible. I want to see it. I want to know it.  I want to live it.

I am finally in a place where I see my value. Now, it’s time to lay it all out there because I am created with purpose. What I have is needed whether I realize it or not. Where have you held back due to a lack of self-value? What stifling lies have you believed about what you’re capable of? Knowing yourself the way God knows you will radically change your life and those who have the fortune of being around you. Choose with me to break out of the mediocrity that fear creates and pursue the real you. The world deserves someone just like you.

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Unleashing Creativity

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I love creativity. One of my favorite things to do is instruct craft workshops through my business. I originally thought workshops would be a great way to expose potential customers to the handmade gifts I make. Something unexpected happened. Over the past year, I developed into becoming a “Creativity Coach”. What started out as something fun to promote my business, became an opportunity to draw out the natural creativity in others.
It’s amazing how anxious some of my workshop attendees are when they’re first getting started. I have heard the words “I’m not creative” many times. To help with this anxiety, I give them simple ideas to work from then something extraordinary happens: they tap into a creative flow. Out of this flow I have seen unique items produced that shouldn’t come from someone who said “I’m not creative”. I love witnessing the realization that comes after seeing a project turn out better than expected.
Creativity produces something original and valuable that can either be tangible or intangible. What a phenomenon! Being creative is sometimes a matter of shifting our perspective. Here are some steps to unleashing your creativity:
1. Trust your natural ability to create. We are all creative beings. We can’t help but come up with creative ideas. If you’ve ever watched the show Shark Tank, then you’ve witnessed the countless ideas that came from everyday people.
2. Don’t compare yourself to others. You must let go of the deterring tendency to compare your brand of creativity to someone else’s. We are all different for a reason. If we were all the same, innovation would be impossible. Embrace the fact that you are unique and that there is nothing wrong with that.
3. Try something you didn’t think you could do. Creativity has more to do with thinking outside the box than anything else. There is an advantage to trying something new. You don’t have any rules to constrict your imagination. This can open the door to some jaw-dropping results.
4. See failure as opportunity. Failure is a natural by-product of innovation. It is simply a part of the creative process. If you’re not failing, it means you’re not trying anything new. Putting failure in the right perspective keeps fear at bay and propels you towards amazing results.

What are some ideas you’ve been sitting on? Has the fear of failure been holding you back? It requires some bravery but it’s essential to explore and realize our inherent ability to create. A life without creativity creates a life of mediocrity (Tweet this!). Stop holding back and finding reasons why you can’t do something. God has given you the ability to dream for a reason. You have much to offer. The world has been waiting for someone like you.

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Your Bravery Mountain

I recently traveled with an adventurous group of friends to Seattle by way of Yellowstone National Park. We were helping a dear friend of ours move and decided to camp overnight in the park. If you know me, you may be laughing and shaking your head right now. After a physically challenging yet satisfying camping experience, we then traveled the final stretch to Seattle. During this road trip, I was awestruck left and right by the natural beauty surrounding me. A lot of self-reflection took place due to a lack of wifi access which has, fortunately, resulted in a post about bravery.   
As we traveled, it struck me that the beauty of the mountains and surrounding landscape are the result of a lot unseen activity. I remembered reading about tectonic plates colliding, volcanoes forming, and eruptions occurring; resulting in the breath-taking mountains rushing past the van window.
My thoughts then moved to how bravery is represented in what I was seeing. It occurred to me that the basic instinct of bravery is consistent movement or activity like the tectonic plates I read about. Just as constant as the activity is under that earth’s surface, bravery does not stop moving in some way, shape, or form. It is relentless in making the best choices for your life. 

Bravery makes bold decisions or movements that can change the trajectory of your life. There is a lot of strength in the small consistent movements it makes every day as well. Its decisions are drawn from the high value placed on your life and what it can become. There are different experiences that can leave you stunned and numb at times. Sometimes, small everyday decisions are the hardest to make. Bravery sees the value of moving forward and saying yes to every movements that will get you where you need to be.

Bravery has such rewarding consequences, yet it can be so irritating and inconvenient. It calls you to step up your game and do more than you’re comfortable with. It will challenge you take on new opportunities that will transform you. All because it knows there is something in that opportunity that’s worth becoming uncomfortable for. It believes that the results of not trying are not worth it; not good enough. 

Bravery will keep you moving forward. It will have you constantly making small yet powerful decisions to live out your fullest life. It will create a bravery mountain out of a life that others will find breathtaking and awe-inspiring. 

  

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