Sandi L Boucher (Red Thunderbolt, Loon clan, Seine River First Nation) traces how she lost confidence when her father died at 17, then spent years chasing external validation before learning to trust herself. She connects that journey to Indigenous empowerment and the power of sharing personal stories.
Questions this video answers
17
Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory (Northern Ontario)
Sandi L Boucher
Chapters
Now, yesterday I talked about indigenous centered spaces as opposed to white centered spaces. And every now and then I release a blog post or a video that is very personal. It's about my life story and I know there's non indigenous people out there going, why am I watching this? What does this got to do with anything? What can I learn from this? For one, reconciliation requires the empowerment of Indigenous peoples. As an indigenous person sharing my story, how I overcame barriers, how I climbed the mountains I never thought I would see the top of. For one, is empowering to Indigenous people following this channel. And two, for non indigenous people following my work. It reminds you that we're multifaceted humans, that we are not just our culture or our traumas, that we have so much more. We are resilient and strong. We are the ones that survived everything that got thrown at us. So in this blog post I am talking about how I'm not 17 anymore and that may not be what you're thinking. Let's talk about it. Hi everybody. My name is Sandy Boucher. I'm Red Thunderbolt, woman of the Loon clan, a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Treaty 3 Territory in Northern Ontario. And anyone who's followed my story especially read my first book right there. You would know that up until the age of 17, if you had known me, you would probably have described me as a very confident, outgoing, self assured young woman. And you would have been wrong. Because I now know, looking back with experience and wisdom, that I was not self confident. Because that requires belief in self. I was dad confident. I had a father who believed I walked on water and told me I would. That I did, on a regular basis. My dad believed I could be anything I wanted to be if and only if I worked hard enough to get it. And that I made it past all the people that were going to try to stop me. My dad warned me that there would be people that told me I could never do it and that they wouldn't believe in me. And it would be up to me to decide if they're right or not. I could prove them wrong or I could prove them right. But the choice was mine. I was 17 when my dad passed away. And suddenly my life got incredibly dark because my confidence disappeared. And then I made a mistake that way too many people make. I went looking for another projector. I went looking for someone else to tell me I had value, that I was worth something, because I hadn't yet learned that I could be my own projector. When you do that, when you're looking for someone to give you value. It can get really scary, really super fast. So that's exactly what happened now. For many, many years, what I've attempted to do in the back of my mind, I always thought, you know what? One day if I get it all together, I'm going to be 17 again. I'm going to be as confident, as outgoing, as big as I was back then. And in this blog post I described the realization that I'm not 17 anymore because I'm so much more than that. I am confident and happy and outgoing, but it's not dependent on anyone else's opinion anymore. And if I could wave a magic wand and give you a gift, that is what I would want to give you. That self assurance, that true self confidence that isn't dependent on anyone else. That isn't arrogance. I definitely don't believe I'm better than anyone else. Just not worse than anyone else. I'm one of creators creations and that needs to be honored and cherished. Just like you need to be honored and cherished. So I hope you found this blog post of value again. As always, please subscribe to my channel and share this video with people. Especially if you know someone who is lacking self confidence. Until tomorrow. I love you. Take care. Bye Bye.
