The Door Opens Both Ways

I am used to being the woman who opens the door.

The one who makes the call.

Shares the name.

Creates the opportunity.

Reaches back for another woman and says, "Come on. There is room for you too."

And sometimes, I am the woman standing in front of the door.

And women are opening it for me.

This is not the first time women have shown up for me.

It is one of many.

That does not make it ordinary.

Every time another woman uses her relationships, her gifts, or her voice to make room for me, I feel it.

I do not know if I have the right words yet for what that feels like.

My book launch is getting closer.

The event is becoming real.

Everything is moving so fast now that some days I can almost feel the dream changing shape beneath my hands.

There is so much to do.

So many decisions.

So many details that seemed small from a distance and suddenly matter very much up close.

From a distance, people see the finished book.

The beautiful room.

The panel.

The food.

The photographs that will hold the memory after the night is over.

But when you are living it, purpose looks like a hundred moving pieces and a woman trying to keep her hands around all of them.

Then somebody shows up.

My friend helped me secure the venue where we will celebrate.

Another is helping shape how we will welcome people to the table and feed them well.

Other women are preparing to sit beside me and speak on my book panel.

People are giving their time.

Their relationships.

Their creativity.

Their presence.

They are not standing at the edge of the dream applauding after it is complete.

They are stepping inside it while it is still being built.

That is what moves me.

They showed up before everything was polished.

Before every question had an answer.

Before the room was filled.

They looked at what I was building and decided to place their hands beside mine.

I have always known how to be strong, how to lead, and how to have faith in a way when there does not appear to be one.

I know how to keep moving when a vision requires more of me than I expected.

Depending on other women is not new to me, but it is never casual.

It is trust in motion.

I am accustomed to being the one others depend on, and receiving asks me to loosen my grip too.

To trust another woman's gift with something that matters deeply to me.

To say, "I need you," without believing those words take anything away from my strength.

And every time, it feels good.

It feels good to be considered.

It feels good to have someone make the call for me.

It feels good to hear an idea better than the one I had and know I do not have to carry every answer.

It feels good to look around and realize that so many people want this moment to be beautiful too.

There is a particular kind of gratitude that comes when the care you have given others finds its way back to you.

Not as repayment.

Not because kindness keeps score.

But because women remember what it felt like when someone opened a door for them.

And the ones who understand purpose know that an open door should never end with only one woman walking through it.

I have tried to be that woman.

The one who shares what she knows.

The one who encourages.

The one who creates room.

The one who sees possibility in another woman and says it out loud.

Now I am watching women do that for me.

And I am letting them.

Maybe that is part of the becoming too: understanding that independence does not require isolation.

Leadership is not only knowing how to carry people. Sometimes it is trusting them to carry you.

Receiving support does not make the vision less mine. It makes the journey less lonely.

I am excited about this event, about my book, and about what may begin when women gather in that room.

But tonight, I am simply grateful for the women who are helping me get there.

The friend who opened the door to the venue.

The friend bringing beauty and care to the table.

The women lending their voices to the conversation.

Every person who looked at the weight of this moment and said, in her own way, "You do not have to hold all of that by yourself."

Once again, women showed up for me.

And I am allowing myself to feel all of it.

The relief.

The joy.

The gratitude.

The love.

That is part of my Herformation.