Getting Back on the Horse

July 9th, 2008 | Uncategorized | 9 Comments

In January 2007, I took a potentially fatal fall on my daughter’s horse.

Two years leading up to that I had been creating a company and finding out about peak oil, carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas levels, and facts like every major ecosystem on the planet being in decline. I alerted as many friends and business associates to this reality as I could. Between the subject matter (climate change) and the very real matter of being a woman in business, I literally hit the ground!

My journey as a woman blazing a trail in the world has been very revealing and enlightening. There’s a saying that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I’ve hesitated to ever write about my experience as a woman CEO. Every newsletter and blog has always had a positive spin and its message has been genderless. However, it’s an act of integrity on my part to illuminate the very real challenge of being a woman in her power in the world today.

In my last blog I said that I loved to go into taboo areas or at least areas that most people feel are controversial and don’t want to look at. So here it goes …

Women, for the most part, aren’t given the empowerment that is appropriate. I’m obviously not the first one to say this. I was raised to believe anything is possible, and with a very open minded father and a powerful mom. Even with that I sit around meetings at my table in my office, and have to deal with prejudice and discrimination. I can tell that the people who come to my office (both men and women) don’t even know they are doing this.

I do want to say that there are the occasional, exceptional men and women who cheer me on … good friends like Hunter Lovins, Nick Forster, Dave Logan, Diane Dandeneau, and Rick Levine, to name a few. Oh yes, and my devoted fan club, my son and daughter, Abe and Alyssa. :-)

So, when a woman like me doesn’t get ongoing empowerment, sometimes she hits the ground like I did a year and a half ago.

On that day, our horse, Max, reared at something randomly. He stood on his hind legs and there was the point at which I knew he wasn’t going to land back on all fours … we had passed the tipping point. I took a deep breath and exhaled as I slid my feet out of the stirrups. Max’s momentum continued to fall up and backwards, and off to the left side. The entire left side of my body, including my leg, torso, and head, was slammed to the ground with an 1,100 pound horse on top of me.

Max immediately got himself back to standing, and, deeply shaken, I slowly pulled myself up off the ground. Everyone helped me to sit on a nearby couch. Half a dozen people were around … it seemed clear that I didn’t have any broken bones and the general consensus was that I should get back on the horse. I couldn’t find the strength or courage within myself to say yes. Just then, a tall woman named Lynn McChesney, who is the owner of the barn, reached her hand out, shook mine and said, “Welcome to the club of women who’ve hit the ground hard. Now you get back up on your feet and get on that horse and ride!”

Her grip was so strong and solid and powerful, I felt like I went into a vortex when she touched me. It was as if the energy of all women who’ve ever lived came through in that moment.

I got back on Max and continued my ride. I continue to ride still … I now ride an even taller and more powerful horse named Chance … his full name is C R Second Chance.

In the past year and a half I’ve produced 2 Global Warming Expos dedicated to the children of the future and I’ve had the opportunity to work with world leaders on the most pressing needs of our time like climate change, poverty alleviation, global health and education.

It is my great privilege to be a woman in these times riding the challenges inherent in being alive.

I want to dedicate this blog to Lynn McChesney, who recently lost her beautiful 22-year-old son in a sudden accident.

Here is my hand …

Keep riding, Lynn.

Love, Audrey