In July 2022 Lufthansa delivered urine-covered luggage that was many days late. It took 21 months of resilient bravery to finally receive a full reimbursement for the costs they created for my family.
It took more than 18 follow-ups – tickets, calls, emails, Facebook messages, LinkedIn posts – to finally get a response from the company.
There were numerous times it felt worthless to keep following up and keep getting ignored.
I had to remind myself again and again who I am.
I sat with the anger and disappointment and chose resilience and persistence without obsession, defeat, or rage.
It is so brave to continue against systems and processes and power dynamics that are imbalanced and unfair.
It is deeply brave to return to who you want to be in this world, win or lose.
I won this one and I am proud.
I am proud not because I won and got refunded but because I didn’t give in to being ignored or mistreated. I kept choosing myself and then choosing action.
So, brave women: how can you choose yourself this week?