What does Dolly say? I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb – and I’m not blonde either.

I think I first heard this quote of Dolly’s while listening to the podcast I mentioned when I kicked off this series (https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america). Again, if you haven’t listened, do it.? Start now! The beauty of hearing it in the podcast was that I heard it in Dolly’s voice. Her voice is truly a ntional treasure – not just her singing voice, but her speaking voice as well. I think part of the appeal is that you can hear the smile behind everything she says. The smile I see in my mind’s eye when I hear her say those words, though, has a lot more than just merriment behind it.

It takes an extraordinary amount of self awareness and confidence to stand tall in who you know you are when others are saying you’re something else. Whether you hear that women aren’t good in engineering professions or that men aren’t good at caring professions, it is a well paved path to follow along with that narrative. But following along with the surface narrative means we miss the richness and nuance of the people around us – and the depth behind their smiles. Very often it means we sell our own selves short and adopt the limitations others ascribe to us.

What a waste! If you know how truly capable and talented you are, it would be a terrible shame to let someone else’s perception rob the world of all of the goodness that is you. And if you’re not sure how truly capable and talented you are, start searching for that answer from within, not from the peanut gallery “out there”.

Be like Dolly. Know who you are, give your dectrators that mysterious smile, and keep on achieving!