ExpressYourMettle.com

I am inspired by a lot of things in my life such as comments made by people, the daily activities of my children, famous quotes, and numerous other things such as books, songs, etc. We can find inspiration in anything and for me it changes. The biggest thing that inspires me though is other people and how they have lived their lives and the choices they have made.

It started at an early age; you see I am the third youngest child out of 11 children. All of these are step or half siblings that I was raised with after my parents divorced when I was very young, before I was born actually. My parents both remarried and I was fortunate to be raised by both families. I have a great family!

Now remember how I said I like to read and learn from other peoples lives? Well, my ten siblings were gracious enough to give me plenty to learn from; both successes and failures. Believe me I have made many mistakes in my life, but I also avoided some by learning from my siblings. I also love reading biographies or memoirs. I am truly inspired every time I read one. Mostly because, in my opinion, we are defined by our actions. I can say all day that I like Peanut Butter, but unless I am actually eating it you would doubt me. By reading about people, not only do you learn about that person, but about history as well.

I read Madeleine Albrights book “Madam Secretary”. Not only was it a great book filled with insight into the Secretary of State’s office, but it is filled with history. Currently I am reading Hillary Clinton’s book “Living History” because I don’t really know a thing about her. So far it has been a good read and very inspiring just based on the amount of stuff she has accomplished. I can read just a few pages and think, I need to get back to work and accomplish something today.

This post is getting pretty long. I will continue with more inspiration in my next post. See you then!

If you go to my website you will see that mettle is about courage, strength, heart, and fortitude.  These are all qualities that I believe most people have in some form or another.  There is a lot about daily life that can get in the way of us truly knowing that we do possess these, but in my opinion we do.

Mettle is about relying on our strengths and dealing with our weaknesses.  For example, one of my strengths is communicating with people.  I rely on that skill a lot to get me through some very difficult circumstances.  One of my weaknesses is confrontation.  I have always hated it and have done most things in life to avoid it.  Of course, there are exceptions.  I have never been afraid to stand up strongly for what I truly believe in, but any kind of conflict such as people fighting(I just can’t watch boxing!!), or facing a negative person, or dealing with criticism has always been a weakness.  I am not sure if it is because I am now in my 30’s, but I have really made strides in this area.

I care about the voice inside me.  When faced with criticism I try to find examples of people who are faced with it every day.  Hilary Clinton is a good example.  She faces criticism everyday about all matters of things from her appearance to her policies, yet she endures.  I am reading her memoire right now. I am neither a democrat nor a republican.  I don’t believe in voting party lines.  But I am a responsible voter and I believe in doing the research on each candidate.  So I thought I would start with her book among other things.  The YouTube debates were interesting.  More on that later.

As a side note, Hilary is a great example of a woman with mette.  Whether you believe in her politics or not, her life has been a life of action and I believe that is key to having mettle. I will be doing a profile on her pretty soon.  Look for it in the Women of Mettle section of the blog.

So for myself, confrontation has become less of an issue.  I am sure it has to do with my age, but it is a skill that I have tried to hone for the better.  So far, it seems to be working.

I can’t tell you how happy I am to be starting this website.  I have been looking for some time about my true passion. I am a web developer/Instructor by trade and although I do enjoy it a great deal, I have been looking for something.

 It is very interesting how Express Your Mettle came to be.  I had been wanting to formalize my freelance web design business so was applying for a license and trying to come up with a name.  I knew I wanted to use the word mettle because it had always been a word I loved and felt really expressed who I was. 

 So I asked my husband to help me come up with a name.  He must have listed around 50 to 100 names and came up with Express Your Mettle.  I loved it immediately, but didn’t feel that it was right for my web business so I let it slide.

Then one day I was in the shower and it came to me what my website should be about.  Women expressing their mettle.  It is a concept that is near and dear to me and as I give the details of my life, you will see why I feel I can inspire you.

I realized that if I could inspire just one person, just one, I could positively impact many people.  I belive in the basic principles of believing in yourself, working hard, and dealing with what comes your way.

Feel free to visit my website and drop me a line.  In the mean time….don’t forget to express some mettle.