Janne Robinson is the CEO of ‘This is for the women’, a line of poetry products and apparel. Janne is a feminist poet, a life coach, an activist and a motivational speaker who shares slabs of her heart for a living.
With popular poems such as “ This is for the women who don’t give a fuck’, “I will never be a well-behaved woman” and “There’s cobwebs on her vagina”, the world is being exposed to a whole new level of raw and unfiltered truth. These topics may seem controversial, and Janne has fought off her fair share of kickback. However, what she holds strongly to is sharing her vulnerability and truth, no matter what. She doesn’t tiptoe around trying to please anyone and breaks through societal “shoulds” and conventional norms while encouraging people to ‘build their own box’.
Janne gives a voice to experiences that many women and people have, but don’t always have permission to share or have the ability to articulate. In this episode, Janne shares how she “walks tall” in her truth and how you can too.
“I think that our truth is medicine because it allows other people to have permission to understand themselves and to access different pieces of themselves.” – Janne Robinson
Janne’s journey to truth started back in 2014 when she got pregnant and decided to have an abortion. As she was laying in bed and healing the words started to pour out of her.
She wrote about the opinions of the doctor, telling her she shouldn’t get an abortion to the conversations she had with the potential spirit within. That day, as Janne processed her emotions, she found that it was the first time her words had depth and really took on a greater meaning.
The article “Aborting Shame: One Woman’s Experience Within Abortion” was born and soon after was published to the 17 million readers on Elephant Journal.
The decision to share the article stemmed from her not finding any information explaining a woman’s emotional process with her choice to have an abortion and how the world needed to hear stories like hers. So many people are shameful regarding their choice to have an abortion and its talked about in hushed whispers and the stigma doesn’t need to exist anymore.
She received 500 messages, emails, and comments from women all over the world. One of them read “I was 16. My father dropped me off at the clinic and told me not to tell anyone—including my mother. You’re the first person I am telling.”
Hearing the impact she made from so many women lead her face to face with her “why” she does what she does— and she has been empowering women to take back their narrative ever since.
If you have stuff inside of you that you haven’t given a voice to but you want to share, keep reading because Janne shares insights about truth and how to access it.
Your truth is medicine
Janne is a believer that emotional and physical heaviness, disease, illness, depression, and anxiety comes from when we’re not living in our truth.
What that means on a deeper level is that when you’re doing things that you don’t love, they exhaust you, you feel resentful towards them and you get tired. They’re not true to who you are what you do and they weigh you down.
When you don’t live from your truth you are denying a part of yourself that wants to be seen and expressed. How often do you say yes or maybe to something when really you want to say no? Maybe you want to be polite or you’re shy but when you are not living your truth it manifests as negative emotions in your life, like anger and guilt.
A recommended book is “You can heal your life” by Louise Hay. This book takes a look at how emotions directly result and manifest as a physical disease when we don’t look at them or talk about them and how you can heal yourself by making choices in your life that empowers you to step out of things that don’t fit anymore.
“Truth is medicine and sharing that truth is so healing and liberating” which is why Janne’s main mission of empowering women to take back their narrative is woven into everything she does and creates.
All artists need someone to believe in them
“I think all artists need someone to believe in them, see them, and say yes. Ultimately you decide that your art belongs and your art belongs simply if it gives you joy, but to have someone cheer you on in the infancy stages is massive.”
Our parents and friends are like not always the best cheerleaders because they teach us and want us to walk a path that has made them feel safe. Don’t be afraid to find mentors that are walking on, or have walked on a similar path and receive advice and guidance from them.
Connect to the natural world
Humans need to connect to the natural world. We become sick because we do not spend enough time in nature. “we need nature as much as we need ourselves.”
The earth is nourishing and grounding and rooting for us connecting us back to many generations to the truth of who we are and what we are made up of. We have seven generations inside of us and how we walk on this planet influences the next seven generations of our family, which is why doing this work of speaking your truth is so important because it breaks cycles, seven generations backward and forwards.
“Our Earth really needs us. Our Earth is not just asking, she is crying for advocacy, and it is fairly hard to care about the earth when you do not feel taken care of. So I think that it is our duty to create the space to come beyond your work to become in alignment to then be able to go, ‘how do I want to create impact and change? How do we protect our mother?
Because, without her, There’s nothing.”
Be Brave
A lot of courage is needed to step outside of the conventional mold. As Abraham Hicks says, there’s not a lot of people on the leading edge, and it can be quite lonely out there, Sometimes you won’t have anybody else in your life living in courage.
That’s especially hard if you are wanting to branch out and do your own thing. You might not have those courage cheerleaders, but go find them because we need people brave enough to become exactly who they are, and do their work.
It doesn’t matter if a hundred people are doing it, or nobody’s doing it. It’s what calls us and when you follow that you heal yourself, which heals this world.
“Believe differently, you get to choose your story. You and every human being are worthy of love, and any story that you want.”
Check out Janne’s Poem ‘I am a woman of distinction’ feature video, which is also directed by Janne.
If you want to connect deeper with Janne you can check out her website or follow her on Instagram for her latest poetry and inspiration.