#hero – Emy Minzel

I’ve been asked to write a mission statement for the campaign to help me decided on running for State Representative in 2020. This request got me really thinking about the crossroads I am sitting at and what direction would be best for me.

How do I want to spend the next years of my life, and how will it feel when doing so? I can take two very different journeys depending on my decision. This choice is hard because it’s a big one that will change the trajectory of my days, my future.

Who am I really at my core? I know I have a desire to help others, I care deeply for people, all living beings and the planet. I ask myself over and over. “What is the best way for me to put these passions to good use? I have had the extraordinary opportunity to try different approaches on for size and see how I felt doing so.

The political path is exciting, empowering, educational, and brought me closer to the members of my community. There are also downsides of this choice. Politics are not conducive to balance in lots of areas of my life. There is a sacrifice of family time, personal desires, career, and on top of the lack of help I would need. Not to mention the contentious arena that supports a Bloods Vs. Crips kind of rivalry.

Listen, I will fight if I have too. But deep down, I am a lover, not a fighter. Lately, I feel the calling of peace. Many people were surprised by my choice to jump into the political arena in the first place. I would often think of it as an avenue to express an alter ego side of me. I was often conflicted in my mind and heart following the political trail. Not in policies but in my personal life.

At times I would even compare myself to Bruce Banner and the Incredible Hulk. To continue the governmental track would mean to endure more of this same frustration. Is pursuing this political path worth my balance, wellbeing and the future of my life. Is there another way to make a difference that feels better?

Over and over, I asked myself what if’s, how and why? Can I make a difference in the world around me in a different way that feels good to me, my family, and those I love? I work from home for a reason, and I love it here. I live a blessed life I am beyond thankful for it. These questions got me looking within, getting back to my roots, surrounding myself with loved ones that know my heart.

I was asking myself the hard questions of who I want to be as I grow into this next pivotal transformation in life. I am thankful for the time I have had to contemplate the pros and cons of each choice and how it will affect me and others I care most about. I am thankful for the opportunity to see myself in the future and how I think it will look.

When I started this political journey, I had called on the inspiration of my grandmother, EmaDee, who was a Registered Nurse for over 40 years in a very small-town hospital. She was a good, kind, and caring person who had a positive impact on her community just by showing up and being herself. My grandmother is one of my heroes because of these traits. I’ve always wanted to be like her in this way.

This desire has never wavered or changed. It was the way I was going about it that altered. I have been allowed time to process this shift, how it feels to me, how it affected my family, and how it changed me has been a blessing.

I know I can still be politically active in a different and muted approach. I do not have to be the candidate; I can be supportive of the changes I wish to see differently. I am excited to see the next candidate get the opportunity to share their passion for our community in such a big way! I can support others who run by being a cog in the wheel of revolution.

My voice does matter and how I used it counts. I have come to see that this political path is a little too extra for me at this time in my life. There must be a balance in the way I care for myself and others. Right now, I feel that I must focus on helping me before I tackle the problems of a whole community. I am choosing to put the oxygen mask on myself first.

Who I am in my soul is full of spirit, love, compassion, and joy. To choose a path that supports and nurtures this part of me means I am kind and truthful with myself. I have a massage therapy practice that fills me with purpose and brings many wonderful people into my life. The real me behind the political persona is a hippie at heart. I am content with being precisely this — just me. I don’t need a microphone to be myself.

Understandably, there may be some disappointment by some, but I must do what is best from me at this time. I have chosen to take the alternate path and continue my career in caring. I’ll begin with Yoga teacher training and see where I go from there. I am choosing to foster the goodness in myself by finding the balance I seek.

I hope to share this kindness with the people around me in a similar way. Teaching is also a powerful approach to help foster a positive, feel-good effect on myself, my family, and the community I love! By sharing my caring in a different form, I can open more hearts, bring inner peace and Zen, with an agenda to create a community of acceptance and connection.

This teaching opportunity can also be a powerful technique in being the change I wish to see in the world. I wish to see more love, more kindness, and more connection to one another. This decision is how I am choosing to be the change. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on this journey through life together. I cherish you.

Nameste!

With love,

Emy Minzel

Visit me at :

EmyMinzel.com

EmyMinzel.AdventureSister@gmail.com

@EmyMinzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~

https://stacycrep.com

Photo credit – Emy Minzel, Wild rose bush with bee in my back yard

I admire my grandmother, she was a strong woman who lived her life in direct service to her community. She lived in Cook MN, where she was the head Nurse in the small-town hospital for her entire career of over 40 years. This town has a population of around 600 people and you can bet that with over 40 years of serving her community she has had interactions with most everyone in her area.

Legend says she delivered babies by herself and knew more than some of the doctors that passed through the hospital halls. This does not surprise me, she was smart, kind and dedicated to caring for others. My grandmother Ema Dee spent her whole life in service to her community even delivering Meals on Wheels the morning of the day she passed away.

We say people are strong because they do the things that others can’t or won’t. Strong people see things and experience events that leave others changed and not always for the better. My grandmother was strong yet soft, her words were not harsh, her touch was gentle, and her patience was that of a Saint. She had diplomacy that I strive to reach myself. She knew how to keep the peace in her family and in her career.

After her passing I retreated into my own family, I finally saw that time was the most important gift you can give someone. She lived a full life, with a large family, many friends in her community, a successful career to feel good about. She took care of my grandfather who had ailing health and dementia until she passed, she cared for others until the very last moment of her life.

This makes me think, “What was her motivation? Why would she work so tirelessly for seemingly no reward or benefit to herself?”

I pondered these questions for years, I didn’t get it until I got it. My grandmother was a devout Catholic, she believed in her role as part of the greater good. We are all connected by our souls, it does not matter how much money you have, how successful you are, or what kind of house you live in. What matters to the higher power is that you do something that benefits the greater good of the world around you.

You don’t have to spend your entire life in service like my grandmother did, but we can learn from her and strive to bring light to our family or our community instead of the opposite. I am far from perfect and no Saint, but what I am is a good person who is compassionate for those who are less fortunate, a voice for those who cannot speak, a soldier of love and light. I feel like it is my purpose to carry on her legacy of caring for my community in my own way, doing what it is that I know how to do. Just being me.

Many people believe that they don’t matter, nothing they do will help, much less have any chance of changing the world for the better. I find this sad, and untrue! What if we could? What if just by being the best you, you can be; you do help the world in some way? What if we believed who we are and what we do matters in this big world? I believe the world would be a much kinder place if we all tried even a little.

I was named after my grandmother Ema Dee who was often called Emy for short. My mom tells me grandma showed up right before I was to be delivered into this world and that was why she decided to name me Emy. Grandma was always there for her family, she was consistent in her persistent love. She lived her faith through her actions not her words, that is what I love and miss about her the most. It is also something I strive to emulate for my own life.

She didn’t plan or try to be, but my grandmother is my hero and someone I admire for doing what is right even if it is hard. She was just her, doing what she knew how to do best, showing up, helping, caring and accepting her role she had been given in this lifetime to fill a void in the need of the greater good. She lived simply but had a powerful impact on those around her, just being her.

Who we admire says a lot about who we are and what we value. It took me a long time before I was able to look past the monetary success or fame that dazzles most of us. I have had chances to meet people I admire and was sorely let down by their character and no longer dazzled by dollars. People are just people no matter how much they have or how little they have. What matters to me is who they are inside.

Who do you look up to? Why do you look up to them? What do you do to try to be like your idol? Do you do your thing your own way or do you copy them exactly? Do you admire their character or their success?

Just something to think about today!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

@emyminzel

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

https://www.facebook.com/BWCAdventureSisters

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

Tag: #hero

Shifting in sharing my caring ~

Accidental Hero