This article is all about telling your story. You might be thinking, “What?! My own story… wait! Nothing interesting has ever happened in my life!”
If you believe such things, I want to challenge you. Your life journey, when shared with others, not only is a cathartic and liberating experience for yourself but can also be an inspiration to others.
When you're storytelling, your memories come to life and you free yourself from their bondage. Why is this important? Because by giving a voice to your past, you honour it, transcend it, and create a clean slate on which to write a new chapter of your life's journey.
If you have only been replaying the stories about your parents, romantic partners, or significant events in your head, you have probably become too attached to your stories and have maybe even become imprisoned by them. Thus, I challenge you to put these stories on paper so that you can shed light on the lessons you have learnt from them, release them, and eventually grow beyond them. By writing your story, you start to understand how all your life struggles, challenges, wins, and disappointments created the perfect tapestry of your life. You start to see how life, even in your lowest moments, was always on your side.
I teach a lot about self-love (it's kind of my jam!) and I can tell you that telling your story and being proud of every little bit has the power to unbound your heart. Remember you’re worthy, and your story matters.
Talking about inspirational stories, recently, I had lunch with Julie, the founder of Okra, and she told me her story. Listening to her was so inspirational and relatable that I want to honour her life's journey by sharing it with you, my dear readers.
Hello, my name is Julie, I am from Mauritius, and I have been living in China for 10 years.
As far as I can remember, fashion was always something I was passionate about, and studying in Paris was my biggest dream. I worked my ass off day and night to pursue that dream.
My hard work eventually paid off as I got a scholarship to the Paris Fashion Institute. But before I went, I decided to embark on a soul-searching journey for a year.
One day, I stumbled across a jewellery accessories shop selling brass wire and beads. Simply seeing the roll of brass wire made me feel like I could build and create anything with it. That day, I ran home and laid all my findings on the floor of my tiny apartment, put some music on, and started playing with the wire, intuitively picking the beads that felt right. At first, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I was enjoying it. Slowly, my creations started to look like dragonflies, and honestly, some weird-looking shapes, but I kind of liked them. Interesting forms started to take shape. I lost track of time making jewellery, and I had entered some sort of meditative state. Some pieces were really ugly, but some were so pretty! It took a lot of trials and errors to get a result I liked.
I brought my jewellery to the park to take some photos of my dragonfly necklaces. I laid most of my creations on a huge rock and hung some of the dragonflies necklaces on a tree branch. While I was snapping photos, I heard a voice behind me asking, “How much does this one cost?” To my surprise, she was holding a necklace and asking me for its price! In my head, I was thinking, “Really???” I was speechless. I didn’t think I could ever make money out of these! There were created just for fun. Being the broke student that I was, I said, “150RMB!” She also bought some rings, and that day, I walked home with 250 RMB (Chinese yuan) in my pocket. I was in awe. I called my boyfriend and family right away and told them about what had just happened. I wish I knew who this woman was so I could thank her and give her a big hug. Without even knowing, she planted a seed!
After this magical moment, everything seemed to snowball organically. I declined my offer at the Paris Fashion Institute and decided to follow my heart. Now, I have a store called ‘OKRA,’ my mother’s favourite vegetable, and my mission is to create meaningful and empowering jewellery for women to remember and regain a sense of inner power, strength and confidence because we tend to forget that the answers to all questions can be found within, no matter what others say or think.
Okra has been able to sustain itself and grow slowly and organically, day by day, jewellery by jewellery, thanks to the tribe of women who have been with and supporting us since the beginning.
Thank you, Julie, for allowing me to capture the legacy of your life.
What a goddess, right?! I knew you would find her story inspirational too.
Ahhh, and before I forget, Julie has provided all of my readers with a 10% discount. All you need to do is scan the QR code and send a message "THRIVE IN SHANGHAI" to receive your discount.
Hope you enjoyed scrolling my article. I am grateful for you! Thank you for being here, reading my articles and for spreading the message so that the articles can be read by more people.
With love,Iza
Coaching Psychologist and Relationship Coach
selfgrowthcourses.com thriveinshanghai.com