I love Maleficent. The story of seeing a womans recovery from trauma. From her wings being clipped.  Her story gives her agency, gives her power. It allows her to reclaim the story.

 

I came across the Muhammad Ali quote this weekend “a (wo)man who has no imagination has no wings” and have been pondering since what this means for those who have had their wings clipped. By trauma, loss, grief.

 

What difference does it make to our imagination knowing we have wings? Does an imagination without wings die of frustration and hopelessness?

 

My Be Braver Collective members, and my own coach are all too familiar with the symbolism wings hold for me.

 

Not because I think we are all angels or anything certainly I’m not, though I suppose that’s a nice idea, but symbolically I like to think we all have them as a means of connecting with freedom, agency, power and strength.

 

To explore the world and fly in whatever direction we choose. To not be limited.

 

When I finally had my break though eureka moment where I realised the terrifying but exciting reality of what I needed to change in my life, I felt like I was ready to fly to an impossibly exciting and uncertain new future.

 

I’d had my wings clipped for so long I’d forgotten what it was to have them. I didn’t want to imagine the future. I didn’t see anything. I didn’t want to see it.

 

Yet I did finally recover my wings. I was able to imagine my future and oh what a beautiful future it is.

 

A whole host of experiences had clipped my wings. Few hacks here and there, pluck of a feather here, tug and a rip there.

 

It resulted in me finding myself boxed in and weighed down in a dull, dark corner of the world with no sense of future worth imagining.

 

Learning to Be Braver gave me my wings. My imagination. My recovery.

 

It turns out I didn’t need to relive every hack, plug, tuck and rip. There was a bit of that. What worked for me in the rewriting of my story was figuring out what my wings were made of.

 

What made them mine, where they got their strength and power from, what made the feathers grow to be as splendid and magnificent as they are. How they connected and worked with my emotions and thoughts about the world and what was possible in it. What they needed. What I could do something about to get them back. What I couldn’t.

 

Only when I could see them again could I imagine where they could take me. To find the clarity. To dare to dream.

 

I had to know I could confidently fly with them, create connection to the places and spaces I wanted to reach. Then I had to have the courage to fly. Which I did. I haven’t stopped or looked back since.

 

There have been bumps along the way of course. Life doesn’t stop doing what it is does but the unfolding twists and turns don’t scare me and I’ve yet to loose a chunk of feathers. I think they improve with age too.

 

So, all of this is to say, if your wings feel clipped, if they’ve been hurt or they are there but in bad shape and are a bit out of practice – please think about joining Be Braver. One of our programmes, our community, a course. You can very rapidly change the shape and experience of where you find yourself today and what the future holds.

 

Your beautiful, splendid and magnificent wings get one chance to fly in this world and I know that if you Find Clarity, Know Confidence, Create Connection & Choose Courage they will be able to take you further than you ever imagined were possible.

 

Or I guess you could try a can of red bull? See if that works?