I saw me in those people. And so I think at 37, is when I began to wake up to me. Wake up to the fact that I mattered. Wake up to the fact that I was beautiful. Wake up to the fact that I was a woman. Hear me raw. And I was no longer going to acquiesce. Under the naysayers and under the perceptions of others and under the opinions of others, I decreed, and I declared at that moment that I was worth something
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 1:21
Hey, Shirley, I wanted to reply as soon as I heard this. I was listening to it in my car and I just had to start talking. I just really value your story and how you kind of framed it over an arc of time and the trials and tribulations of being you and not quitting and not sort of bending towards some sort of standard that doesn't speak to who you are and your magnificence
There's some really iconic locations in the world, but just outside of those locations, there's also a lot of hatred and a lot of ignorance and a lot of just lack of familiarity with the true nature of what it means to live on a planet surrounded by however many billions of people that all come from their own place. It's hard for people to fit in, sometimes even down to beliefs
And so you taking the time out of your day to do that for me really just resonates deeply and profoundly to me right now on this fourth or third day of the new year, this really has just sparked something in me. Thank you for sharing that with me because it really just blessed me and tremendously. When I say bless me, I mean it tremendously. Thank you so very much. I'm going to continue on
And it doesn't matter where in the world we are, it doesn't matter what the background is, the cultural differences color him or her. Just the mere fact that we all breathe in and breathe out, and we're all human and we're all on the earth and planet at the same time, having diverse experiences at the same time. That means so much, much more to me than anyone will ever know. So thank you so much
Flor Cantu
@FlorCantu · 5:00
And just little by little, I allowed it to kind of wither me away, wither myself away. And I'm always keeping to myself, and I don't want to be loud, and I don't want to show how much I love colors or things that I want to dress
We are every bit of who we are. And that's the good, the bad, the ugly, and the indifferent. Every part of us makes up what we are today. So all the bad things, all the naysaying, all the rejections, all the put downs, all the people that try to make us feel less than all they have done is made the diamond shine brighter. Keep shining, keep soaring, keep rising. Keep going forward