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Rachel Hollis stops apologizing
Michaela Ramm
Apr. 11, 2019 8:30 pm, Updated: Apr. 11, 2019 11:37 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS - Rachel Hollis has named that negative voice in her head 'Pam.”
Hollis has learned that naming the negative thoughts that tell her she's 'not enough” encourages empowerment and more positivity within herself, she told a crowd in the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Cedar Rapids Thursday.
Hollis, a blogger and entrepreneur who has published best-selling books 'Girl, Wash Your Face” and 'Girl, Stop Apologizing,” was in Cedar Rapids as a keynote speaker for the Women Lead Change conference this week.
A Cedar Rapids-based not-for-profit, Women Lead Change was founded with the focus of improving women's lives in the workplace and the home. Its annual conference draws thousands of attendees each year, officials said.
The two-day conference, which culminated with Hollis's talk, drew around 2,700 mostly female attendees, said Women Lead Change Chief Executive Officer Tiffany O'Donnell.
Self-described as the daughter of a Pentecostal preacher, Hollis provided many lively moments for the audience, from striking Wonder Woman poses to dancing to Beyonce songs such as 'Run the World.”
Hollis founded a high-end event planning company called Chic Events in Los Angeles, and went on to become a popular lifestyle blogger on her website, TheChicSite.com.
'Girl, Wash Your Face” was a self-help book published in February 2018. According to a book description, Hollis tackles 20 lies and misconceptions she told herself that held her back.
Her follow-up, 'Girl, Stop Apologizing” was released March 5 of this year.
Now a motivational speaker, Hollis's main message was on self-empowerment and overcoming the fear of failure to accomplish one's goals.
She spoke Thursday on tactics she uses for herself, including naming the negative voice in her head, to hurdle self-doubt.
Hollis explained that individuals will think awful things about themselves, but would never allow others to say the same thing to their face. So by giving that voice individuality, Hollis said people can better trick themselves to not accept those self-deprecating thoughts.
'If you are the problem, you are also the solution,” she said.
Hollis encouraged the audience to use real-life successes they've accomplished in their lives to prove that negative voice wrong.
'Give yourself some credit,” she said.
Hollis noted that 'Girl, Wash Your Face” - while arguably the most successful - actually was her fifth book. No one cared about those other books, she said, but they were the steppingstones on her 15-year journey to success.
But even if you have what it takes to make it to success, 'it's going to be hard,” Hollis warned.
'The difference between where you are and where you want to go are the hard things in between,” Hollis said.
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