The Audacity To Be Queen

I got this book from my friend, Amanda, from Brooklyn, NY. She and I shared our thoughts and ideas about our kids, parenting, and us as individuals who have desires and dreams to grow ourselves. She said this book has good insights on how we as women consider and treat ourselves and grow from there.

How I was raised and the culture I grew up in definitely shaped my ideas on how I should grow as a woman and mom. In my generation back in Korea, most moms stay home as homemakers. Their job was to take care of the family and home while their husbands were working and networking for their work. Many fathers could barely spend time with their kids or help with them because they were busy at work or resting at home from work. Moms were there for family and were considered to be responsible for it. As our generation grew up, the culture changed a bit. The society became more competitive to achieve better life and better education, and that required more resources. Women started to work to contribute to the family. However, the responsibility on childcare, family matters and homemaking have stayed on women.

I did my best on fulfilling the responsibility being a mom and a woman following the expectation that I observed and learned from my society in Korea. I knew it wasn't the most ideal model so I tried to make the best version for myself. However, the core idea of putting me last stayed in the model.

I have a family that I adore but I often got depressed. The very thing that I thought I was doing the best for my kids and family, actually was hurting myself because I was giving up on myself limitlessly. I didn't know consciously that I was giving up on myself but my body and mood did.

Family can't be happy without individuals being satisfied and happy. That includes me. I dropped the idea of putting me last and started taking care of myself. I started reading this book.

I thought the title seemed bold. "The Audacity to be Queen." "Queen" seemed too bold and big to say for me. I didn't mean to be a queen. I wanted to be myself. However, while I was reading the introduction, the impression on the title was gone and I was convinced that the title was just right.

"In Every woman lives a Queen. She is smart, feminine, powerful, spiritual, generous, visible, prosperous, and usually has a great sense of humor. Though she has, enjoys, and requires great material wealth, she doesn't bow to it, not does she lord it over others. Instead, she lives a life worthy of her calling. Being Queen is about becoming the BEST VERSION of YOURSELF......Sadly, most women have become too familiar with putting ourselves last, resulting in a half-lived life versus fulfilling our glorious potential."

This book helped me reshape my idea of myself and my purpose. It helped me to understand why I didn't feel fulfilled. Many unanswered question made sense. Although I don't follow all the rules or methods. The base idea of living queen epic life remains. Why? Because it's about more than me. It's a double blessing; it's a blessing to me by living my life fully and also an inspiration to others to live their epic lives. Also, using my life the way I was made and used will be of the best service in the world.

Since then, I started one of the prayer from the book to keep my spiritual level deeper.

Dear God, I'm ready for more. More fun, more miracles, more power, more wisdom, more abundance, and more love. I know you are the source for all of these and I'm asking you to show me how I can deepen my connection with you. Please show up more clearly in my meditations, thoughts, and intuition and guide my actions. Show me how to be more of the woman you created me to be. Show me how to be of greater service in the world. I'm asking you to flow through me in a bigger way. Thank you for my life, thank you for this relationship, thank you for your unconditional love.

Here are some quotes that I highlighted from the book

• "A Queen knows that when you celebrate another woman while owning your own power, it's called being a star among starts. God created us all to shine, to be celebrated, and to celebrate each other. Because A Queen, a woman who's so lit up about her purpose and contributing to the world in the way only she can that no one else compare.""
• "When you train yourself to believe that everything is happening for you, not to you, you'll start to think more about what gifts the Universe is bringing you. You'll see how to bend time and space, assign a different meaning to what used to be perceived as an unfortunate circumstance, and step into a higher possibility of what's meant for you. You'll break through to a fabulous realm of unlimited possibilities."
• "The Ghost, the Sweet Talker, and the Bitch are the ones who grew up ina fear-based culture where someone always wins and someone always loses. Queens know better. Compassion for ourselves and others flows naturally when we remember that with God, a solution for all is always available. Choosing language in alliance with what we seek to create in the world is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal."

There are so many more great insights from this book to contain in this page. I hope we all become the women we are meant to be and are the best service in the world, "The QUEEN".