Keep Your Head Down

Dearest fellow ruckus-makers, Linchpins, intrapreneurs, artists, and change-agents,​

​How often are you hearing the following?
(More importantly, how regularly are they said to your face?)

"You don't belong here."
"Why are you here?"
"She's different..."
"... (pause) ... innnteresting..."
Or my personal favorite:

"Keep your head down."​

​Well?
When you do what you do, do you look for an award, a pat on the back, a nice job, or an email with every person above you on the totem pole cc'd?

: knock knock :
(Are we really doing this? Yes, we're interrupting this post with a knock-knock. Go with it.)
Who's there?
?
You.
You who?
Yoohoo, that's not why you're here. Put those awards away.
Don't put them on your mantle.
Keep those ribbons off your chest.

Show up.
Wear your scars with pride.
Dare.
Do in places where doing isn't done.
Be there, where there aren't.

Keep your head up.​

Put a dent in your universe.​

Don't wait for applause.​

Face the flinch.​

Know that when they say "you don't belong here" that you are exactly where you should be. Know that when they ask why your colors clash in a place of black and white, you're doing something right. Know that being different is more refreshing than a lemonade in the dessert; you're a pipeline of revitalization. Know that the eyebrow-raised remark with a wow masked behind it is the boost to your battery. Know that when your boss tells you to keep your head down, because the success and change and inspiration and hope and you bring to a lifeless swamp is exactly what the doctor ordered to pick you up, dust your shoes off, raise your chin, and keep going.​