Welcome Friends
I’m starting cathrynmharris.com.
Not because I have it all figured out. But because I finally figured out I don’t have to.
At 51, soon to be 52, I’m stepping into new opportunities and I want you with me. Not to watch me — to walk with me. Because this next chapter isn’t just mine. It’s for every woman still in her cocoon, wondering if she’ll ever fly.
*Here’s what I’m working on:*
*1. Self Care Projects*
Self care isn’t candles and face masks when you’re rebuilding your life. Sometimes self care is drinking water before worry. It’s word before world. It’s the 5 AM gym session when your body says “no” but your spirit says “go.” It’s choosing the library over parties. Balance over noise. Healing over hiding. I’m documenting it all — the ugly, the honest, the beautiful — because someone needs to see it.
*2. Going to the Gym*
I didn’t join the gym to get skinny. I joined to get _strong_. Strong enough to carry my past without it breaking me. Strong enough to carry my future without dropping it. I’m an introvert who learned to be an extrovert. I’m a woman with curves, curls, and teeth — and I’m taking up space. On the treadmill. In the weight room. In the world.
*3. Speaking*
I’ve been the girl in the back row. Now I’m walking to the podium at Toastmasters. I was on _The Tyra Banks Show_ when I could’ve stayed insecure. I was one of 5 teens out of 10,000 for _Teen Magazine_. My voice has always been there. Now I’m using it on purpose — to tell women: You are not your setback. You are your _comeback_.
*4. Writing*
One chapter a day. That’s my rule. Even from a shelter with a curfew, I wrote. Even with a Master’s in Organizational Leadership, I write. I’m writing the book that’s dear to me. I’m writing this blog. I’m writing the grants I started writing at 12 with my brother’s typewriter. Words saved me. Now I’m using them to save others.
*5. Launching a Nonprofit*
This is the big one. I’m launching a nonprofit that helps women — especially young women — become independent and not rely on a significant other or family.
To teach girls and women that they _can_ make it on their own.
I know, because I did.
I rose from the ashes. I went through the cocoon stage — the shelter, the struggle, the silence. I worked at Safeway with a Master’s degree while building this vision in my head. I was not raised by my father. My mother, Cathryn Annette Murray, was always there for me. When she died, it hit me harder than anything. But her faith, her discipline, her “keep going, baby” — that’s what I’m pouring into this work.
The transformation process did not take overnight. Butterflies don’t happen in a day.
But I am proof it _does_ happen.
From shelter to PhD candidate. From grant-writing at 12 to grant-writing for other women. From cocoon to butterfly.
*CathrynMHarris.com* will be home base. For the blog posts. For the resources. For the truth. For the women who are done waiting for permission.
You don’t need a man to succeed. You don’t need approval to begin. You don’t need to have it all together to take one step.
You just need God, and the work. Word before world. Water before worry.
If you’re in your cocoon stage, I see you.
If you’re in your ashes, I’ve been you.
If you’re ready for your butterfly stage, I’ll meet you there.
We fly together.
*Teeth and all. Curls and all. Curves and all. Healing and all. Butterfly and all.*
*— Cathryn M. Harris*
_Writer | Speaker | PhD Candidate | Founder_
_Salem, Oregon_
