"Opening yourself up to someone takes a lot of courage and trust"

In Barcelona, especially on the GLUTEN FREE FOOD TOUR, I learned the value of opening up. The other two ladies on the tour, who were Italian, helped me not feel so uptight. It helped me loosen up and feel like it was okay to have fun and be myself. I'm a little weird and quirky, at times serious, and a lot of people don't know what to make of me when they meet me. The people in my life tend to continuously point out how much I make them uncomfortable when I'm being myself so I tend to keep a wall up. In Barcelona, being around people that were willing to accept me as I am, it helped me feel like I could break those walls down and start letting people in. As it keeps coming up in these blog posts and on my podcast, as long as I lead with kindness and acceptance...things tend to fall into place. And if people don't like who I am, if I make them uncomfortable...then they don't need to be around me. It really all is very simple.

As a side note, every time I am in an environment where I don't have to worry about being gluten free, I feel such a freedom that I wish I could feel all the time. Interesting how much having celiac subconsciously weighs you down. Something for folks to think about...