Dear Ellie,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are one of the strongest women I know. Your strength comes in the way you serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The thing about service is that we\u2019re so often taught to lose ourselves<\/em> in the service of others. You approach it differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You care for yourself first. You always make sure you\u2019re safe and healthy and capable of serving. Then you pay attention to those directly in your care. And once all those people are in a position of wellness, you turn your eyes towards others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You serve so many people in so many ways. You have founded worldwide organizations and called friends when they\u2019ve been on your mind. You reach out and ask for help, empowering others to serve with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You inspire others to see those around them as people. You recognize our shared humanity, and do everything in your power to lift all of humanity, one person at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You embody the best of service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your service is never toxic. Toxic simply means too much, in a way that interferes with the designed function of something. So often our gratitude, our positivity, and our service is toxic because it\u2019s too much. It interferes with our life in a way that ruins our relationship with ourselves and those closest to us. We think if we aren\u2019t serving others we must be doing something wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the way you serve is never toxic. I\u2019ve seen you say no when you recognize a need elsewhere. I\u2019ve seen you refuse to \u201cserve\u201d because you understood the bigger (and better) picture. Your service is never toxic. It\u2019s always healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it\u2019s always strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for showing what healthy, empowering, and lifting service looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank you for your strength in service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Ellie, You are one of the strongest women I know. Your strength comes in the way you serve. The thing about service is that we\u2019re so often taught to lose ourselves in the service of others. You approach it differently. You care for yourself first. You always make sure you\u2019re safe and healthy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,136],"tags":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Letters-to-Strong-Women.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5507"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5608,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions\/5608"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/roxannemerket.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}