Glow Girl! Tracy Maxwell

What is YOUR story? Who are YOU? What is YOUR life journey all about?

My journey has always been about helping. For a long time, I put others’ needs ahead of my own, until that didn’t work for me anymore. Then I learned to practice better self-care so I could serve others without completely depleting myself. This was like a revelation that helped me step out into the world in a big way as a blogger, author, speaker, coach and leader who had something important to share. Speak to thousands of students each year about hazing prevention? No problem. Write a book about Being Single, with Cancer? Why not! Go on television as an expert? Ok. Quit my job and start my own company? Woo Hoo! My greatest gift is that I see and value people for who they really are. For most of us, our identity is what gets in the way of our success. Not good enough, smart enough, tall enough, thin enough, rich enough, connected enough OR too tired, too lonely, too stressed out, too sick, too overwhelmed, too broke, too late. These labels we give ourselves, even if they are positive, don’t always serve us and tend to keep us stuck in a box from which we can’t escape. I see beyond the labels, and help you do it too in order to unleash your best self upon the world. I can see people’s bright lights within, even when they can’t see it themselves. Once we’re cleared off all the dirt and debris that has accumulated over years of destructive messages, discouragement and frustration, they can let their lights shine. Because everyone has something big they’re meant to do in the world, and we need them to do it!

What has been YOUR biggest challenge or life obstacle that YOU feel has dimmed YOUR GLOW?

The helper in me has believed it was noble to serve people without accepting help, or commensurate compensation in return. The independent, do it yourself, be strong embodiment of me worked fine until I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. That seemed like my biggest obstacle the first time. By the third time it came back, I realized it was my greatest gift. As a single woman, living alone, with my family hundreds of miles away, hearing I had cancer was terrifying. I was CEO of a startup at the time, and I had no idea who would take care of me when I was sick, much less how I would continue to do my job (which, as an American I needed to keep my health insurance, not to mention my sanity).

Recognizing that I couldn’t power through on my own, I quickly learned how to ask for help and allow my amazing community to support me. The first line of my book is, “Feeling alone is far worse than having cancer,” and I know that is true. Once I got over the feeling that I was alone, cancer and all the other challenges of life were much easier to bear. We are incredibly supported, not just by the people in our lives, but by the universe, the divine light within each of us, the very nature of life. Recognizing those connections and the well-spring of inspiration they provide, gave me the strength for four surgeries, six rounds of chemo, a major change of diet and lifestyle and, ultimately, the realization that we are capable of healing ourselves! I now love to teach others how to activate their own self-healing mechanisms.

How have YOU grown as a woman in the last year? What lessons, insights or ah-ha moments have you had?

I have healed so much in the past year. Not only cancer in my body, but so much gunk in my spirit. Everyday, I drop a little bit more of the heaviness of living a human experience, and feel the lightness that comes with the realization that I’m actually a spiritual being with no limitations. I AM. Once we drop the limiting beliefs, labels and fears, we are free to be fully self-expressed in the world with nothing holding us back from serving, creating, living, loving and just BEING who we really are. We are human beings, not human doings, but it is easy to get wrapped up in the frenetic energy of doing, doing, doing. Stop. Breathe. BE.

What else do YOU want to share with the YOU GLOW GIRL!® Community?

You can heal yourself! Physical, mental, emotional, spiritual – it’s all related. When you can get present to the negative images, limiting beliefs, destructive cellular memories and mental patterns that don’t serve your highest good, you can release them. Sometimes the healing and release can come even when you don’t fully recognize where the patterns come from or what they are. My mission in life is to help people heal through realizing who they really are.

To learn more about Tracy’s work or purchase her new book check out her website at http://www.iamtracymaxwell.com/ Be sure to check out her healing trips. She has one to Maui next month!

Read more inspirational women’s stories each week in the YOU GLOW GIRL! Community. Join today! https://www.facebook.com/groups/YOUGLOWGIRL/   Watch the YOU GLOW GIRL! video here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uzIJmH5Vsc