“I am a Fire.”

That’s right – I am A fire. Not “I am ON fire,” but I am the freaking fire.

Personally, I feel on fire after this weekend; I spent it in Dallas, Texas at Rachel Hollis’ RISE Conference, and holy moly, was it a life changer. I was always a fan of Rachel’s (really, she feels like my big sister from another mister), but seeing her light up a stage (pun intended) in a stadium of 7,400 women was something else. The girl’s got passion and is so stinking genuine, which I can speak to firsthand since I got to meet her on Thursday night (!!!) + hand her something pretttttty freaking major that’ll be coming from CUR headquarters soon-ish. 😉 Of course, if you’re familiar with the book that made her blow up, Girl, Wash Your Face, chances are you feel strongly about it one way or the other; she wrote with intentional transparency that was a wee bit controversial in the media. But all personal/political/any other feels aside, I applaud her for having the audacity to speak her truth so boldly, in a way that so strongly impacted + literally changed the lives of so many women. Honestly, I was on the fence myself about a few things she’s said in the past, but there’s just no denying the positive change and energy that was drummed up in that room. So if she’s offended a few people by publishing her sex life in a New York Times Bestseller as a Christian woman, I can get over that if even half of that stadium now goes out and does something bigger + better with their lives for having witnessed RISE firsthand.

SO.

Stepping off soapbox and onto some fire. 😉

I am a fire.

I’m gonna go ahead and call a shot right now – at least half if not most of you reading this right now are not living up to your full potential. Seriously. And I know this, because all it takes is a quick glance around the grocery store or a hot scroll down an Instagram feed to recognize complacency and negativity. Of course, there’s always a handful of energetic go-getters, but that can often feel drowned out (or even naive) amidst the sounds of complaints come Monday, or the tired sighs come 3:30 pm. Y’all, if you don’t feel a fire inside of you right now wherever you are in your life for whatever reason…what are you gonna do about it?

You can either do something or do nothing.

If you do something, change happens. If you do nothing…nothing happens. Too many folks stand around wishing for someone else to fan their fire when they haven’t even striked a match. If you don’t start, it’s just not gonna work. Life has hard seasons, of course. And it can feel hella intimidating to think of a big, burning blaze in those times when we feel anything but – like when we hate our jobs, or feel stuck in a bad relationship, or are exhausted because #kids. But remember. Not all fires start as a raging blaze; sometimes, it’s just one ember that starts a slow burn that grows into something more with a little bit of fuel or oxygen.

So…us.

Sure, some of us may have been born raging blazes, but I’m sure that’s the minority of dreamers (except for 3 Enneagrams 😉 ).

For many of us, we might not have had it all figured out right outta the womb. It might’ve taken a few years (or decades?) to feel confident, or strong, or secure in our worth, direction, place or space.

And THAT’S OKAY.

What matters is this: Once you find your fire (or rather, once you recognize it, because it is already in you, no matter how small) – you fan it and fuel it until the blaze is unstoppable.

There’s a reason why forest fires are often so tragic – they’re uncontainable. Tragedy aside, I need you – the WORLD needs you – to tap into something a little more fiery inside your soul. Something that really lights you up. Of course, especially when we’re trying something new, we have room to fail forward – we have room to grow, so long as we never stop giving it another go. But if your ember, however small, flames out in a hard season…sometimes all it takes is one match to start a blaze all over again.

Maybe it’s cheesier than hot Cheetos in the Texas heat, but it’s just as hot (because it’s fire, get it???) – and a necessary reminder, because I know SO MANY OF US are living life scared to burn brighter for fear of being seen or in fear of burning out.

But here’s the thing.

Fires can be controlled and still light the way, create warmth, boil water – they still start other chain reactions of change and growth. It just needs to be nurtured how yours needs nurturing, and that’s enough.

And lastly – your fire has nothing to do with the next girl’s. Heck, you can light her fire yourself and it won’t lessen yours at all – if anything, the whole room will glow brighter and be better. And especially in this Instagram world, that can’t be said enough. Fire GROWS in being spread. Stop holding your candle close to the chest in fear of the girl next door’s candle outshining it.

I am a fire.

And so are you. Don’t forget it.