Break the Rules: Make Your Own!
Sometimes, we must break the rules to make a place for ourselves in the world. Few demographics understand this reality more than the LGBTQ+ community. Today’s episode of Get a G.R.I.P. with Coach Elix explores how Iris E. Fernandez Valdez encourages her clients and other community members to make their own rules and experience the courage that being different brings to their lives.
About Guest Iris E. Fernandez Valdez
As a health and wellness coach, Iris E. Fernandez Valdez understands how social justice impacts a person’s well-being. Demographics who suffer oppression often struggle with more than the emotional and economic consequences. Their mental and physical health may also suffer, driving them to follow a set of rules they believe might keep them safe.
Through her guidance and resources, Iris encourages them to break the rules and perform the courageous act of self-care, healthy living, and community connection.
Harnessing the Power To Break the Rules
Before you make your own rules, you must first let go of the ones you follow. As a trans person herself, Iris understands that breaking socially accepted rules to live authentically means being fearless. She states that her own inspiration comes from common humanity.
“Everyone around me… regardless of age or what we look like or gender differences, I’ve always felt attracted to the common humanity we share.” She elaborates that “it is human to be different.” Many people seek unity despite their differences.
However, Iris believes humanity comes from our differences. This philosophy in itself breaks a common rule. She states that she grounded herself in this ideal, which gives her courage.
Being Fearless When You Make Your Own Rules
Being fearless doesn’t just mean breaking rules for the sake of it. It means you make your own rules to define and find success. What made Iris strong enough to move forward in her identity?
Fearlessness isn’t without its obstacles. She describes her struggles with suicidality as a trans person ten years before. “I didn’t want to leave this world. But I wanted to move through this world and this life in a different way.” If you don’t have the freedom to move in a way that works for you, you might not value your own presence in the world.
Being Different Nourishes Your Spirit With Courage
“I was ready to throw away my life because I felt that it wasn’t really my own,” Iris states. However, she changed her point of view because of a friend who was willing to support her without judgment. As a result, she became curious about herself.
That curiosity led to being fearless. Fearlessness led to her being different unapologetically, nourishing her spirit with self-acceptance.
Connecting With Iris E. Fernandez Valdez
The G.R.I.P. Method
G.R.I.P. stands for "Greatness Requires Intention & Purpose," and many who have followed this method can attest to that. This strategy helps people find their goals, inspirations, and visions and execute them with clear intentions through planning, purpose, and integrity. It works with science and psychology to make dreams a reality.
It is a roadmap that guides you through struggles and hardships, with the final destination being the life you want to lead or the changes you wish to make. The G.R.I.P. Method offers a plan to go from fear to freedom and helps you break away from where past attempts did not work.
