The WARRIOR Woman Awakens

The human experience has been an enigma to me for a long time now.

Like, what the actual fuck is going on here on Planet Earth?

I know, I know – I shouldn’t worry my pretty little head with these BIG questions. I should just put my head down and quietly accept non-equal pay, continuous abuse and violation of women, children and people, no maternity leave, mansplaining, mentally ill leaders, petty funding of women’s ventures, age and body shaming, no health care, poor education choices…

After all, I get to travel, drink Bulletproof coffee, gain muscle mass, watch Netflix, reshape my face with contouring kits, buy shiny things and accumulate likes and followers.

What more could a modern woman ask for?

As it turns out, a FUCK TON MORE.

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Yeah, there will be swearing in this piece, I should have warned you.

Consider yourself warned.

Ever since I was asked by my good friend Kara to represent the WARRIOR collection for fair trade, badass jewelry company Threads Worldwide (Kara is one of the co-founder of Threads and we’ve known each other since 2014), a part of me that was dying to be named — my inner warrior woman — has been given room to breathe.

Finally.

Bringing my warrior to the surface is significant, as I have found the space I’m “allowed” to occupy by our culture to be terribly suffocating.

Suppressing my own bigness and power to “fit the mold”, on top of the rage for all of the inequality I mentioned earlier, has required an insane amount of energy and delusion to maintain.

(Trust me, I’m a pro at keeping up appearances. I’m talking Olympic Gold medal level suppression here!)

But, NO MORE!

When I put on my WARRIOR jewelry, and started expressing myself as her, as ME – something shifted and I felt a new sense of comfort in my own being. I felt strong, powerful and full of LIFE.

Why I fight

I so badly want to tell you my story, but I’m not sure yet how to convey my message without stressing you out with a laundry list of traumatizing events. Because there have been plenty.

I think I’ll start here.

I’ve known this for a while now, but it’s starting to really sink in:

Surviving is no longer good enough.

I don’t want to just get by. I want to be able to inhabit my entire body as the innocent, joyful, powerful, grown ass woman AND creative child of LOVE that I AM.

And this is where my personal journey intersects with the mission of Threads:

Many of the artisans who handcraft the pieces I’m wearing in these photos are survivors of sex trafficking, have special needs, or are facing social, economic, or political hardships.

I am so freaking proud to collaborate with Threads because the work they do, creating this special jewelry, enables these woman to reach their potential to thrive, not just survive.

Whether here in the US or in Guatemala or Ethiopia, we want to know that we matter, that we can provide a safe home for ourselves and our children, that we are valuable and have the ability to reach our full potential.

It’s not about me and them – it’s about US!

How to heal together!

I want to do my part in changing our current paradigm. And right now this means I gotta heal some shit that has me convinced that I’m a victim.

Committing to this process of healing has required my inner warrior to step up and FIGHT.

Fight to overcome the survival state. Fight keep my head over the surface and not drown in the darkness.

You might think, “But Karna, what about manifesting my joy and following my bliss? There’s got to be an easier way, a joyful way – a lighter path, no?!”

You’re ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, you smart and amazing woman, you.

But my experience has been that before I could get to that place I had to use my warrior to say NO to believing old stories and agreeing to re-abusing myself.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever found yourself giving your power away?

Yeah, #metoo.

Here’s my invitation today:

Say YES to your inner warrior goddess and use your love sword to cut off the invisible cords to people leaching on your energy, to remove the old beliefs that are no longer serving you, to let die what needs to be released…

You have my full permission to put yourself first. (Not that you need that.)

Personally, I’ve had to go back into my darkness, scoop up my super scared little girl in my strong arms, put her high on my shoulders and mama bear roar to the inner and outer demons to:

BACK THE FUCK UP!

I’m no longer in agreement with repeating this hell-hole pattern.

NO, I will not allow that behavior, because I LOVE and RESPECT myself.

THEN I’ve been able to access my bliss from time to time. And it feels damn good.

(The healing process is like a multi-layered onion and I cannot express all its dynamics in this blog post. What I’m sharing here is just ONE facet of it, OK. But if you stick with me for a few years, we’ll be able to figure this out together, I promise.)

The next step: Taking ACTION

I have felt a deep sense of helplessness in the past year, wanting to make a difference and having so little time being the mom of two small children, plus running my own business.

Thankfully, Threads is giving me the opportunity to feel like the badass WARRIOR I am by wearing these pieces, AND help other women around the world by sharing their mission.

If you are as inspired as I am to be a part of a life-changing movement for women around the world, Threads is your tribe. Get in touch with me and I will personally introduce you to the founders.

Photos by the amazing Julie Afflerbaugh.

Thank you for reading and honoring my story today.

I’m sure you have your own battles you’re fighting.

Know I believe in you and 100% have faith that you will find your way.

I leave you with this, my dear, dear friend.

May your inner warrior rise up today and never, ever stop fighting for you.

How does this land for you? Let me know in the comments below!

Warrior on,