Hi everyone! 🏵
Today, I've chosen to submit this post as an entry to @Abundance.Tribe's BiWeekly Question;

What Does Self Empowerment Mean To Me

& What Steps Am I Taking To Empower Myself?

With my beloved @ravenking13, we have decided together that the main focus we want to hold this year is SOVEREIGNTY, and in practical terms: Self-Sufficiency .

I probably must tell you a bit about my journey before going on.

When I was little, the thing I enjoyed most with my brothers was Adventure. No matter where we were, the three of us would find far-fetched ways to create ourselves a thrill, and invented many fantastical stories in which we had to prove our fearlessness but also our genius in solution finding by experimenting à la McGyver during these "missions".

The more & more we had less time to play and more time to study, I was kind of disoriented as to what I would like my life to evolve to.
While most of my classmates prepared for highly academic studies of medecine, engineering or even quantum physics, I longed for more creativity, more awe, more diversity for the rest of my life..

With some of life's funny twists, I ended up in Paris in a private fashion school, that made me feel like Hogwarts. Paris and the fashion world was real glitter. Evenmore so that I specialized myself in Luxury Haute-Couture, that industry promised a future of worldwide fame and abundance.
Graduating as a Valedictorian in 3 years and going off to Dubai for my first job in my early 20s whereas most of my childhood friends were still studying or living with their parents made me SUPER confident back then; I finally felt so empowered.

Little did I know back then that my inner child was just so convinced that my talent was going to bring her the attention & validation she was always craving.

Fast forward a couple of years later where I moved back to my hometown and had established my fashion line, my ego evolved into an ever hungry fat caterpillar.
Interviews, TV appearances, co-founding creative collectives and getting chosen by the US Embassy to rep my country in the US during an entrepreneurship program made me feel like the Queen of my small country.
I was famous. I was admired. I was introduced to the heirs to the throne, the ministers and ambassadors of my country.
I was unstoppable.

And that's when it all crashed. 🤭

I burnt out. I got a depression. I went to rehab for 2 months.
And I learnt to just be a human.

With therapy and the book "Women who run with the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, I could understand what this entire Disney show was about.
I could finally understand that I didn't need to prove anyone anything about my worth
I could finally understand that it's not because I have a gift from God that I have to pay my survival with it.
I didn't need to prostitute my talents to convince anyone that I had a right to be here.
I could finally understand that my pleasure has the right to be my priority.
That Abundance is my birthright.
I could finally ask myself deep down in my core, if nobody cared and everything was possible: what would give me joy on a daily basis?
Because that's what you learn in therapy: one day at a time. Esoterics call it : live in the moment.

And by diving deep and weeding out all the false promises of the world and the motivations of my ego, I found the answer that I recently finally started embodying TODAY.

Let's call it when the butterfly came out at last.
The completion of my process of rediscovering myself & learning to treat myself like a Goddess in my thinking, my speaking and my offerings to myself, was celebrated with the ceremony of my shaving of my head almost a year ago.
It was crazy.

Being a woman with no hair was one of the most empowering things I have ever done.
It completely crushed my status quo of femininity and I was given the opportunity to completely rediscover what being a Woman meant for myself only.
I also have learnt to stop resisting to finally embody the Woman I was born to be, on many levels I could never have imagined before that.

The simple act of choosing to shave my beautiful long locks brought out many facets out of me I had never encountered before, and THAT has opened many unknown doors to a realm of Self-Authority , -Agency & -Direction in multiple facets in my life.

That is how Self-Sufficiency became a central theme in my young adult life.
Just as I had birthed out of a rite of passage of emotional, mental and spiritual self-sufficiency, I had moved on to a new initiation; Self-sufficiency and Sovereignty in the physical plane.

I realized I just don't feel like being anyone's bitch. [Excuse my french]
I have not been put on this earth to be a slave.
I know many people are waking up from this dream too right now, and that gave me the power & faith to do the following things (in no specific chronological order);

• I cancelled my health insurance. I don't need it & I am ready to take care of myself in need. Thanks to the modern world, I have an incredible access to the medicinal plants and other resources I actually do believe in and am glad to invest in, instead of paying a fee to someone who pretends holding the responsibility and authority to my health.

• About data.. I became VERY protective of my data. I actually transformed into a lioness when I understood the entire data sucking system that I had given myself away in since my teenage years on my social media. I literally got sick of that perversion and violation, that I decided to carefully revise and close every single platform or site that keeps details of me.
  We also bought a faraday bag for our phones and got quite conscious about how our phone can be our spy in the interest of others.

• I closed my traditional bank accounts and got myself a N26 to be more financially flexible and not be stuck in centralized banking. Actually I prefer my money cash.
  For the crypto assets, thanks to @ravenking13 's insights, I also ordered a Keepkey to withdraw my financial data from the web.
  For the rest, my focus is to be as much as a walking treasury as possible so I make sure to constantly improve my skills and master my passions.

• The crypto world is a new expedition right now and I am mezmerized. My entrepreneurial spirit is stimulated by this new territory and my gut is already convinced so I am open and ready to explore!
  Informing ourselves about crypto, Brave Browser, Hive, Leofinance and many other decentralized initiatives, is all a new world that smells excitingly like abundance to me, which I must say in these times of uncertainty gives real confidence about the way we choose to give our attention to money in all its forms.

What attracts me here is the heart-felt desire of creating authentic value versus the "look-at-me"-mood on mainstream social media. Also the votes and rewards on this platform feel much more empowering and validating because I can feel a genuine interest and connection, unlike the stalky vibe I was used to get from my former accounts.

Having deplatformed from all life-sucking mainstream social media has also empowered me to give 'Real Life' more Chance to surprise me with syncronicities but also to use my time & energy in a more joyful way as to concentrate on what gives me value & what value I desire to create .

Back in therapy I found my formula to happiness: I need to feel safe by having food&shelter covered. For the rest, thanks to my superadventurous childhood and the skills I learnt in craftmanship and taloring, I am more than happy to create functional, decorative & sacred objects on my own and with my partner.
It makes me euphoric actually.
I like my hands busy & I don't mind dirty, Nature is my mother and walking barefoot is my normality by now.

• Our garden this year is our exciting first harbor in our expedition to Sovereignty.
  For two days, we have started to prepare the ground and expand the growing area for more plant magic. Today, we bought an abundance of seeds and bulbs of gorgeous flowers; I can already visualize the oasis of colorful bloom this upcoming season 💚

• We also ordered seeds to grow nutritious & medicinal herbs, traditional & exotic vegetables and are learning new ways of preparing & conserving live foods. Needless to say, choosing a diet based on my intuitive needs, slowly understanding from my body and my feelings, was also very empowering for sticking to body-love and not blindly buying into what outsiders pretend to know about health etc.

• Also, the practice of Self-Worship, which is also known as Self-Love, is very essential for my energetic field and my soul's vibrance. Making time for myself and my human vessel is a high priority. Dancing and singing light up my fire.
  Funnily, I have tried busking a few times and really enjoyed it more than regular stages, so in terms of self-sufficiency and independence, knowing I can make a couple of bucks on the streets felt immensely empowering!
  To make sure I can always sing whenever and wherever I have started to learn the guitar and am anticipating the sunny days where we can all hang out in nature again around campfires.

• During the lockdown last year, I also learnt the importance of cosmetical care and the pampering of our Bodytemple.
  Since I met my Beloved, I have embarked with him on a beautiful journey of harvesting & creating our own alchemical & cosmetic products that we sell on our etsy shop. 🔮

Starting with an idea, a scent, a mood, and working with the soul of the plants, incorporating them into a formula with carefully crafted intentions to be worn, ingested, applied or used by our customers to attract natural and energetical benefits or create healing, revealed a profound mystical practice.

• Also, tattoos are very dear to me, every time they symbolize a rite of passage and a sacred offering to my Body temple.
  Since I love drawing and desired to be as much self-sufficient about it, Amore bought us all the necessary equipment to learn to make stick and poke tattoos. Since, I inked four small hieroglyphs on my legs and three on him and I love the thought of having all the time in the world to ornate part of my body myself. Since my Amazigh ancestors from my father's side have been acupuncturing their bodies with ink and mystic symbols for thousands of years, pursuing this tradition feels very humbling.

Embodiment

All in all, I could never emphasize more on how everything just changed when I realized that I am always in charge of the narrative.

Discovering the treasures of Quantum Leaping, the biggest Act of Self-Empowerment to me is consciously being on top of my own story.

Being my mental chatter or the fears that hover around me, I am the only Monarch in my own life that decides on what I want to believe in and what makes me feel alive.
(Self-)Pleasure is a sacred key in that process.

Opening myself up to the infinites possibilities of my life's unfolding, I give myself permission EVERY TIME to connect with my Quantum Field and transmit the visions that feel Empowering & Sovereign.

I am aware this was a long post, I am happy if you made it until here! Since I am new on Hive and haven't made an introduction post yet, I wanted to take some time to tell you more about my background to give more context to my post. :)

All pictures are by me, except the thumbnail picture which is from an Artist called Young Yemi, and the photo with the 3 eyes is from Pinterest with no credit