Hats, Heels & Lessons

On Sunday, March 5th I attended the first ever Hats & Heels a women empowering women community , event held at LaVue Boutique Inn. It was an inspiring event designed to support the development of woman’s hotline on the island of Anguilla.  It was a lovely Sunday brunch surrounded by beautiful sisters from all walks of life.

And oh my the hats and the heels…...kitty heels, stilettos, heels whose names I can’t pronounce...big hats. floppy hats, side hats, hats with feathers, prints, you name it we had it...Of course, I wore one of my fedoras, sort of a hobby of mine, I’ve been collecting hats from since I can remember, it started with baseball caps to anything funky to fun and fashionable fedoras with dramatic prints...so this was my opportunity to show off one of my hats…..For the event I chose my sequined fedora that reminds me of an abstracting painting with its wide variety of shapes and strokes showcasing a rhythmic blended sea of white, tan, brick red, army green, baby blue, and burnt orange.  As you can probably tell, I love this hat, one of my faves.

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I could not stay for the whole event but I was able to listen to two dynamic speakers, the first was Mrs. Shelly Brooks-Johnson, fellow blogger at My Anguilla Experience.  She reminded us the importance of living inspired as she shared her own personal growth journey.  Then I met Anguilla newbie, a globetrotter with a unique story, Ms. Tanesha Barnes.  It is from her words of wisdom that the idea for this blog was sparked.

Tanesha asked a series of questions which stemmed from a “woke” analogy between the privacy of curtains how we live our lives.But when she spoke of “wearing masks”, I immediately jotted down in all caps “WHAT MASK ARE YOU WEARING?

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​How many of us hide behind a mask or the curtain and never reveal our true selves?  Perhaps deep down, you have always dreamed of living the life of a travelling artist, in which your world adventures spark a creativity within that produces brilliant masterpieces? Or perhaps you always wanted to be a curator of  fine luxury antiques? But somehow somewhere you did not believe this was possible? Or you just did not believe it was for you? Or you just didn’t know how to exactly how to go after that dream? (Did you know that lack of information is the #1 reason people don’t go to college, stay informed, be in the know, #SayYEStoLearning).  So you wore a mask, that has made everyone believe that you love what you do, you pour yourself into the career, the job that you really don’t want and you bring your “A” game to hide the true you that is crying inside, wishing to take on what you truly wanted to do?

What mask are you wearing?

​You know what I’m talking, how often do we hear of the corporate beast, a powerhouse, top of their game, just one day suddenly quits to teach elementary students, Or the computer tech person that decides to move from behind the computer and starts a company hosting bike tours?

If you are not doing what you really want to do, it will eat at you inside. You may begin to resent those that discourage you from pursuing your dream.  You may begin to feel self doubt or worse depressed because you are not living the life you truly desire.

The truth is, you can start living and working towards that dream, There’s nothing stopping you but you! 

It’s time to remove the mask. Go for it! What’s really stopping you? Join the millions that have chosen to live their dream.  

So let me ask you, “What mask are you wearing?”

​Tamara N. Pradel, MSc, is the Technology Innovation Educationist and your Personal Learning Lifestyle Coach. She loves to inspire and motivate others to develop a lifestyle of life long learning, to use technology in productive and meaningful ways and to bring back the fun in professional development. Who says learning has to be boring? Learn it. Play it. Own it.