If you have been living under a rock and do not know who Rachel Hollis is, welcome back. Rachel is a NY Times best selling author, motivational speaker and media Empress. She leads the personal development space, especially for women, and published an incredible book "Girl, Wash Your Face", a no nonsense, tell it like it is, self help book that encourages women to take control of their lives. Clearly, she is awesome!
Rachel and I start our mornings the same way; an affirmation. Mine: ' Girl, looking good. You're going to slay today. Get up, there is only one life and this is it'. Now, seeing as I look like the picture to the right when I wake up, it's often times a hard sell to my inner self. 
On cold mornings when the heater wont kick on until 5 am and it's 4:45 am or when girls night involved much needed laughter but a glass too many of wine, 'looking good' isn't really the way I am ACTUALLY feeling. Never the less, it is what I tell myself and it has healing properties. I will tell you that I get out of bed feeling loads better than I would if I spent my first 45 seconds of every day berating myself, ramping up the anxiety of the to-do list, stumbling through the goals that have yet to be achieved.
I meditate, pour myself a cup of coffee and sit down at my computer for an hour or so before my four children wake up and the world comes unglued. Each morning, I try to spend 10 minutes tackling one of the biggest challenges we face as a fertility and surrogacy agency. We have two sets of distinctly unique clients, Intended Parents and Gestational Carriers who come from very different places and struggle with opposite challenges. How do we serve both sets of these clients in a way that validates them and brings happiness to their lives? How to we guide them through the next year, leading them in their unique stories of heroism, tackling their challenges and achieving their dreams? This morning, I realized something that stares me in the face everyday and is the obvious answer to our challenge. Our clients are not that different from one another.
When I married my husband, I did not stand at the alter and think "how can I marry a man? Men are so much different than women". Truth is, he IS so much different than me. Instead of seeing those differences, I looked at my husband and saw the union of us as an incredible magnet of so much strength. Where he was strong, I was seeking strength. Where I was capable, he sought knowledge. We were more similar than different; it was just shaped into different facets. We were a pair, and together, we are unstoppable. The same can be said for the community that we serve; for each one of our amazing surrogates and each one of our incredible intended parents. All of our community is here because they have something to give and something they need. They are here to fill their cups and to have their cups filled. They are here to share their strengths and back fill their divots. In joining our community, they become stronger.
Today, I am thankful for the community that we serve and the similarities we all posses. We all have unique challenges whether it is in fertility or parenting, marriage or independence, we all face the same challenge when we wake up in the morning. Are we going to spring out of bed after a inspiring self pep talk and wash our face or are we going to let the day manage us, defeat us and steal our magnetism. Today, I hope that each one of our community members, parents, soon to be parents, husbands, wives, soon to be surrogates, ready to pop surrogates, terrified about the daunting process ahead parents, new parents, just want to be parents... that everyone takes a few minutes to find the strength in our community and to tell yourself... I am surrounded by a community that makes me stronger and that is going to help me through this. This is my team, these are my people. Together, we are going to SLAY today!
~ Brooke
