She was crying via SMS.
“I feel like the breakthrough never comes after the breakdown.”
“Close friends and family just don’t get it!”
“They judge me…and they don’t give a fuck.”
“I’m just too sensitive for this.”
These are the words of an online entrepreneur, a spiritual one, a shaman, who has given up her successful 15 year “day job” to pursue her true calling to get her heart-led way of life out there to as many people as possible.
Now she is drowning her sorrows on a Saturday night in a glass of champagne. She only drinks champagne.
I sent her a screenshot of one of our colleagues, a photo of her onstage shot from behind as she received a standing ovation from a theatre full of women who loved what she had told them. And to my crying friend I wrote:
“Look at this…this is a picture of our dear colleague getting a standing ovation. No one in our offline world would understand how she got there.
But we do. We see behind the story, and we live behind the story .
WE ARE DOING IT.
None of the women in that audience are on the stage. Do you know what I’m saying? It’s like being a mother – it’s a silent job. No one sees what really goes on.
The ballerina stands on the stage, but no one in the audience sees the ballerina’s bloodied feet, they only see The Swan. They may dream of being the swan but they don’t know the real story even if they think they do. They have NO idea. The hours and hours of practice, of wondering whether or not they are good enough, if they will be chosen, if they will get a call-back from the audition.
No one sees the suffering.
DO NOT expect them to understand. You want to dance? Then your feet will bleed and only the other dancers understand how that feels, and only they can comfort you.
Most ballerinas give up. But the prima ballerina doesn’t.
She has a vision and she doesn’t care that her father tells her she is wasting her life.
She doesn’t care that her toenails are hideous.
She just sees The Swan. It is all she wants.
No one sees the tears. NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR TEARS except the other dancers.
So stop expecting other people to get it.
And clean your wounds. And talk to us, the other dancers.
And get back to the barre.”
Originally published at michelleseatonwitte.com