It’s time for Queens everywhere to bravely speak their truth. We’re done suffering in silence! And if you need a little push to break free, today my guest is the beautifully brave Sarah Pendrick. She shares her journey from suffering in silence to becoming empowered through radical honesty. Sarah is the founder of one of the original women-supporting-women movements, The GirlTalk Network. She’s also a self-love advocate, life coach, writer, empowerment speaker, and one of my very best friends!
We discuss her childhood, the hurdles she had to work through to get to where she is today, and the power of forgiveness. Sarah reveals why she made it her mission in life to empower women everywhere and how her new book Beautifully Brave is set to do just that for you.
Queen, this is one of those episodes that will touch you deeply and inspire you to live your life with more honesty, courage, and self-love. Tune in right now!
What Made Sarah So Passionate About Her Mission
Sarah grew up in the Midwest in a family with no sisters. She believes she’s so obsessed with female leadership and community because this is something she lacked when she was younger. Growing up, her dad didn’t exactly know how to handle a daughter – Sarah was often feeling like there was something wrong with her. Today, she’s determined to help girls and women rise and embrace their power.
Her childhood was less than stellar. Her family didn’t have a lot of money, the other girls bullied her, and there was no understanding in the family. Sarah felt like she had to dim her light, like she was being too much when she was genuinely expressing herself.
In fact, her first bully was her grandma. She was raised in a different time and she had a lot of ideas of what women should behave like. She was triggered by Sarah and often felt the need to put her down. As a five-year-old, Sarah couldn’t process that trauma as she can now. Back then, she just had to wonder why her grandma didn’t love her.
The Years of Suffering in Silence
When you’re young, you don’t have the capacity and the methods to understand rejection and pain. Especially when you grow up in a more conservative family, women tend to minimize their discomfort and suffer in silence. Sarah did that for years. One of the manifestations of this pain was her desire to be liked by everyone. In her heart, she believed being liked would keep her safe. This desire often triggered others to bully her.
When her family moved from Midwest to West Coast, she experienced what it means to be different, to dress differently, have less money, act in a way that’s not accepted. At that point, she was just trying to survive.
Being silent was one of the ways to cope with her struggle. She got so good at putting up that wall and acting “strong”. Back then, she was proud of her steely façade. Sarah thought that being strong meant not letting anyone in, not showing any vulnerability.
It was only in college that she made a shift and started to redefine her definition of strong.
Dealing With Assault
Many women who suffer in silence carry the wound of sexual abuse. Sarah herself experienced the gut-wrenching consequences of such trauma. She was sexually assaulted as a five-year-old, by a family member. When she was 19, she was raped.
She didn’t tell anyone. Now, there are many reasons why women suffer in silence when it comes to abuse. As a child, you don’t even have the tools to process the events. Sarah kept silent for so long until one day she let the dams break.
For the first time ever, she shared her story at an event. She had previously told her husband, but this was the first time that she revealed her pain to her friends. Her event was geared towards helping women who experienced sexual abuse, but she realized she never shared her own story. It was finally the time to do so.
Sexual abuse can often breed feelings of shame and guilt. It’s important that we women understand that these events don’t define us. We don’t need to take on someone else’s dysfunctional behavior as our own shame. There’s nothing wrong with you. You did nothing wrong.
An Opportunity for Healing
As a survivor, Sarah took everything that happened to her as an opportunity to grow and heal. Today she has compassion for the person who raped her. She has forgiven him, which of course doesn’t excuse his actions in the slightest. But, as she told me, she forgave him because it let her find peace.
The abuse she experienced as a child took longer to heal. She had to go back in time and talk to that little girl. She had to learn how to the tools and methods that would allow her to re-script this event and finally feel the self-love we all deserve.
Speak up for All the Women Still Being Silent
It seemed crazy to share her story at that event, but Sarah knew it was time. She realized she was part of the problem. So many people suffer in silence, but sometimes all it takes is for someone else to be honest.
She knew that if she stepped into her life bravely, that her actions might inspire other women to share their pain too. Sarah also understood that society promotes this silence – she wanted to break the pattern and create a safe space for anyone else who might be struggling.
Beautifully Brave
No one wants to experience abuse, trauma, and suffering. Still, so many of us do. As Queens, we do deep transformative work to move on and use our experiences to serve others. That’s precisely what Sarah did by creating a community based on female empowerment.
Now, she’s written an amazing book that you simply must get. It’s called Beautifully Brave An unconventional guide to owning your worth, cultivating self-love and standing in your power and Queen, let me tell you, I’ve never been so moved reading a book.
Sarah dedicated this book to all the women who struggle in the self-love department. During the process of her healing, she has experienced firsthand how genuine self-love feels. This was something she wasn’t familiar with until that point. It was the amazing feeling she had ever felt and she knew she had to share it with other women.
The book is an unconventional guide that mixes spirituality, science, and practical tips on all the ways to come back and actually feel that true love inside yourself. I don’t know anyone better who could share this message, because Sarah is such an embodiment of living loudly and bravely.
Additional resources
Queen… I hoped you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did! Go get Sarah’s book immediately and check out her The GirlTalk Network.
We’d also love to know your takeaways, please screenshot the episode and tag us on Instagram! My handle is @ginadevee and you can find Sarah at @sarahpendrick.
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