Jun28

Publisher - July 2018

Publisher0618She was the type of girl
the moon chased and
the stars wished for.
— K.K. Lall —


The theme of this month’s magazine is #LiveOutLoud. It’s a euphemism for: Be a badass. When I think of the stereotypical image of a female badass, I think of singers Pink and Madonna, Venus and Serena Williams, Wonder Woman, or some helmet-covered, platinum blonde barreling down I-95 on her own damn Harley—not on the back of his. The truth is all of these women’s lives scream badassery—they definitely live out loud!

However, I think there’s more to it …

Living out loud isn’t a persona, and it’s way more than what meets the eye. Being a badass comes from some tiny cauldron bubbling inside of us, filled with a powerful concoction of heart, soul, spirit, passion, and courage lodged near the womb, which was only given to women.
Living out loud means not shrinking back, living with passion, taking risks at your own level, not only thinking outside the box, but getting rid of the box entirely. Living out loud means stepping away from the wall because you ain’t no wallflower. You have the music in you, and you not only want to dance … you do! You dance like the music is in charge of your soul, and you don’t give a damn who’s watching, because this is your song; it belongs to you, and it feels good to just be alive.

Living out loud means being yourself at all costs because you know the price of comparing yourself to someone else, and you decided a long time ago you just weren’t that desperate. Living out loud means you forgo the fancy luxury car because you know your bank account is fat; and yes, you want to get from here to there, but your there includes a flat in London, some acreage in the country, the ability to do what you want, when you want, and to say yes to the Louboutins just because you, Miss Pound Smart and Penny Wise, can.

Living out loud means when the obnoxious drunk at the bar calls you a nurse because you wanted a drink and you were still in your scrubs and you reply, ‘It’s doctor! And please back off, you’re in my personal space and spitting in my food.” Yeah, you handled it politely, but manhandled a mountain called male chauvinism that will mount in his memory for both you and the next woman who has to sit next to him.

Living out loud is the seventy-something-year-old lady with the beautiful flower pots filled with colorful blooms cascading down the front stairs of her well-appointed waterfront home that she bought for her self by herself and the big ass truck in her driveway too, because she has shit to haul, and yes, she can back a trailer. Do you even have to ask? And that truck is her main mode of transportation, and it is big and black and bold, and she is small, but she never plays small because she brings home the bacon and fries it up in the pan, but she never, ever, lets herself forget who she is and what she needs.

Living out loud is becoming bald from the chemo and wondering if you’re going to win the fight, yet always showing up with a real smile on your face and a kind word for those you encounter because you know the hand you’ve been dealt sucks, but you’re not the only one with problems and, quite frankly, you don’t want to compare problems, because if you’re the winner of the game of one-upping in this arena then you really are no winner at all. You just want to live and let live because you know for sure that life has a funny way of getting real clear when options are taken off the table.

Living out loud is being you. There’s nothing more badass than to accept yourself fully and skip through life with a what-you-see-is-what-you-get energy that reflects off your smile like you know you belong, because you DO belong to the only person that it truly matters to and that is YOU. The you who came to this earth alone and who will leave this earth alone. The you who believes in being exactly who you are, embracing whatever you’ve been dealt because that hand is yours—and you own it— and you’re going to play it like a boss because you know when to hold them and know when to fold them and know you can run, but you don’t have to because you are you and you love you, and that is the alpha and the omega.

Being a badass is being able to say you’re sorry, but never apologizing for who you are. It’s standing up for yourself and what you believe in, even when your thoughts aren’t popular—especially when your thoughts aren’t popular. It’s living in truth and not allowing other’s needs to shelve yours. It’s calling people out on their bullshit and making it clear you ain’t no cowgirl—you don’t deal in bullshit. It’s knowing your worth and not discounting yourself, and honoring everyone else’s worth and not expecting them to discount themselves, either.

Lastly, Living out Loud is all about women helping women. If you snub, hurt, alienate, mock, criticize, talk about, tease, or degrade other women, you are not a badass; you are a bitch.

Empowered women.
Empower women.

Now let’s all go live out loud.

Think Pink-
Elizabeth Millen