You knew this was coming, didn’t you?
I want to make sure that if you are reading this, and are a woman of any sort, that you know you are an Iconic Woman, and that you are iconically feminine. You have control over this. Words are powerful and whatever you see yourself as, whatever you call yourself, is what you put out into the world for others to see, amplify, and reflect is what you are.
If you are female, you are feminine. You have a self. You are your own personal icon.
Personal Icons
Visualization is a very powerful tool for healthily and successfully moving through life. I do not like the “fake it til you make it” saying; I prefer, “practice makes perfect.” If you do not like the type of iconic female you are, or are projecting, change it. We all change through time.
I changed. I used to be a nubile young nymph, then I changed into an ample, mature, goddess. Both are on the mythic scale. I framed myself this way and this is what I try to project, and I love it. Of course I have other aspects, but it was important for me to understand that my heavier, grayer, wiser self grew from and is consistent with my inner nymph. I have not lost anything. It was important for my self concept to connect youthful me to older me. It helped to make me happier.
It is quite important to be who you are, to be authentic, but you can also have to “accentuate the positive!”
Of course you can be iconic in many ways which are classic or evolving. You can create and become a new icon. We just have to be aware, or woke. And you can edit yourself. I could have not been myself, become the woman I am, had I stayed in my community of origin. I did not fit there. But I was aware enough to know that. The roles that had been assigned to be by community convention were at odds with what I knew to be my real self, my identity.
Some of the Iconic Roles of Women
Edit Your Iconic Brand
You can also be unique without being iconoclastic. Some women who are aware of conflict between icon roles become caught up in that conflict between roles. This is real and you may want to address that without becoming an iconoclast, but there is room for iconoclasts too. Think of it as editing rather than destroying old icons. We need to be aware of the nuances of prejudice embedded within icons. Cut those suckers out.
If you are a writer or a blogger you can use the branding process in personal life too. What you project as an essence is partially your brand, but through practice, it works into identity if you choose to incorporate it.
No matter which iconic elements you choose, or exhibit naturally, you combine them in unique ways. A worthwhile exercise can be to list the roles you play in life. On one side of the page write down all the classic iconic roles you can think of. On the other side, list all the roles you play in life. With colored pencils or a highlighter, highlight roles with the same color if they feed into single aspects of your life; you are in charge of naming those aspects. In a column to the right of those color coded roles, list which iconic elements those roles support. Are there roles you wrote on the first side of the page that are missing from the detailed exercise on the second page? Are the missing roles aspects of yourself? Are these aspects upon which you want to place more emphasis ? Are the missing roles things you have consciously edited out?
Sometimes we do not even recognize aspects of ourselves we are neglecting or silencing. You are in charge. If you want to emphasize aspects, go for it. If you want to downplay elements, go for it. If you don’t want to think about it, don’t.
You are in charge.