A few weeks ago, I dropped in on my networks with an update to let everyone know about where I felt my life had been and where I felt it was heading. One of those updates was that I started a very oddly named LLC called The Blessed Rogue. Two words with very different connotations… used right next to each other… WHY? Well, let’s start by looking at the words apart.
Blessed
When people see the word blessed, they think of goodness, maybe sacredness and wholeness, fortune, favor. To be “blessed”, no matter your beliefs and upbringing, usually lends itself to a more positive regard. Pretty self-explanatory, short and to the point.
Rogue
Rogue finds its connotation in the opposite direction, as a negative, often seen as being disruptive or dishonest or deserting of a micro/macro society. What if, in some cases, it was more about being authentic in the face of risking apparent difference or being set apart. Rogue here isn’t about being combative or dismissive, just for the heck of it. It’s coming not from a place of rebellion for rebellion’s sake, but from a place of revelation, understanding, seeing a bigger picture and being unable to ignore that still, small Voice that when all others say go left or right, It says to try a different dimension- a lesser-to-never seen, heard or imagined way.
That’s where those two words, unearthed and put together, create something completely different- even more beautiful than what it means to be “blessed” and more respected and maybe even more inspiring than what it means to be “rogue”.
When it came to naming this LLC, I wanted it to mean something and represent who I am. In whatever capacity- a student, a employee, an entrepreneur, an artist, a board member, an onlooker, a citizen- l wanted to see the goodness and brilliance of our community and the people in it amplified (because there is SO much!!), and the not-so goodness and brilliance authentically addressed and intentionally acted upon, that we could realize the former- not just desiring impact but transformation.
Sometimes that means speaking up when you’re told you should just be quiet and grateful for your literal or metaphorical “seat” at the table, to maintain peace and cohesion in the echochamber. Sometimes that means being the only one, or at least feeling like it. Sometimes that means thinking outside of the box and bringing things together that “shouldn’t be together”. Sometimes it means being applauded in one moment and overlooked or disdained in another- and sometimes by the same person.
Yet we forge on and do it anyway because we believe in the beauty and possibility that is and/or that can be, because we have seen. That’s what The Blessed Rogue, as a name and as an archetype, means. And if we are so blessed, as I have found myself to be, we get to find, build with and walk alongside these other Rogues of a different kind in community.
2 years ago, I wrote those three words in my notes app only to find that 2 years later, they would be a reminder and a foreshadowing of the journey forward.
(Now you know!)