Do you celebrate your uniqueness? Do you prefer to create your own soul path and encourage others to so the same? Do you compassionately disrupt societal norms and elegantly rebel? If you answered even a vague ‘yes’ to any of these ponderings you may just be on the edge of re-igniting your own Elegant Rebel®!
But let’s start with the words, literally.
I love words and I may, just a may, have a minimum of five large dictionaries in my possession, a couple of small ones, a few Thesauruses, a French dictionary – ‘cos I can and it was mildly useful studying French 40 years ago – and naturally an official Style Guide or two. Yes. I am a word nerd and am quite adept at proofreading too.
But back to the words – elegant and rebel. I refer to The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary (Third Edition 2001):
Elegant (adj),
graceful in appearance or manner
tasteful, refined
ingeniously simple and pleasing.
Rebel (in this case noun),
A person who fights against, resists, or refuses allegiance to the established government.
A person who resists authority or control.
And before the big reveal of this thinly veiled grammar lesson, I am also thriving beyond breast cancer. For the past eight years in fact and my proudest elegantly rebellious moment occurred when I chose to ‘stay flat’ post mastectomy. I chose to simply be myself. Elegantly. Joyfully. Authentically. No boobs required.
For me these two words are the personification of thriving beyond breast cancer. In fact, it is society’s obsession with breasts and the ‘need’ to determine what defines being a woman, which re-ignited my rebellious ways.
I am an Elegant Rebel®.
Elegant Rebels choose to follow their inner-knowing instead of societal norms and take heart-centred action filled with compassion, kindness and grace, for ourselves and others.
For anyone who knows me even a wee bit, you’ll know I’m quite uncomfortable with the word normal or society dictating how I fit in. The simple fact I chose to stay flat eight years ago is just one example of how I elegantly rebel.
This was my choice. For me. I am a huge advocate of choice and quietly encouraging others to make choices for their own well-being as opposed to ones based on what others may want or need you to be. And. I choose to be elegantly rebellious.
However, I also choose to disrupt the norm in a quiet, compassionate, accepting, graceful manner. I’m not one to shout people down in an attempt to overpower their opinions so I can stand tall and be myself. My choices are considerate of other people’s opinions, life choices and where they are on their soul path.
Perhaps you are a bit of a quiet disruptor too? There is so much power in grace, compassion and kindness. Does this resonate with you? You too could be an Elegant Rebel® like me!
And like me, do you want to ask lots of questions and gently disrupt the norm as a way to place greater emphasis on the acceptance of uniqueness? Or to develop a greater understanding of the self-esteem, self-worth, and self-confidence issues many of us endure based on the size, shape and sexualisation of our breasts or for simply being a woman?
To achieve this acceptance and valuing of women, where do we start quietly disrupting society, rebelling against the accepted social norm of ‘woman equals breasts’?
For me, disruption starts with understanding the choices available and gracefully standing up for your personal values. If you’re not aware of your personal values, I strongly recommend taking the time to figure them out. They are your anchor point for all your choices and decision-making. Life becomes just that wee bit simpler to navigate when you are able to ask yourself if a choice or decision is in alignment with, or goes against, your values.
By understanding my personal values, I have the structure I need to push back against our society’s emphasis on requiring breasts, and to rebel against the underlying sexualisation of this need and the non-acceptance of different.
Knowing my values provides me with the courage to share my experience and thoughts. Knowing yours may also assist you in finding your voice and being able to share with the world what your version of normal or, dare I say uniqueness, is.
This is my dream and my wish – to be able to inspire others to find their voices. For the Elegant Rebel® approach to be someone else’s turning point in finding their own voice to ask questions. To take up their space, gracefully. To stand in their personal power. To ask their questions. To believe in their version of normal. To find their version of truth. To be able to elegantly disrupt society’s version of normal, should they choose. To discover their uniqueness. To celebrate their whole being, mind, body, spirit and soul.
So before any of us head down the ‘I need to be normal’ path, I encourage you to consider elegantly rebelling and ask yourself, ‘what’s best for me?’. Celebrate you as a person. Honour you as a person. Respect you as a person. Love you as a person. That’s your Elegant Rebel® moment. Your version of normal. It really is that simple for me.
Peta-Ann is the Founder of Elegant Rebel®, providing support for other soul-full rebels in rediscovering their uniqueness and celebrating all that they are and can be. Elegant Rebels choose to follow their inner-knowing instead of societal norms and take heart-centred action filled with compassion, kindness and grace.