What a powerful phrase this is! Many times, I see women trying to pretend they are men - eliminating their emotions, forgetting their cycles, not allowing time to rest, running, doing fifty million things at a time, having a job, a home, a family, and many other things and eliminating the time for themselves. Sadly, I have to admit I was one of those women. A few years ago, as I was climbing what I thought was a corporate ladder, I found myself depleted to the point that I ended up in the hospital. Yes, I was attending school, working full time, having a home, a husband, a women's circle and some other things. I was piling things on my schedule as there was not enough time to do everything I wanted to do and work took a prominent place in my life. There were days I was working till 8 PM, times I took work home to do during the weekends until one day my body said... you can not pretend you are a man anymore and work at this pace while doing other things, you will burn out! That was my wake up call. I realized that life was more than a career and that at the end of the day, my career was just one role in my life but it did not mean everything to me.
Realizing that allowed me to bring harmony in my life since I was able to visualize that all my energies were focused in one area on my life and the other areas were not getting enough attention so they were collapsing. I also realized that it was ok to be feminine and that it did not mean I was less than... or not intelligent. There are so many things programmed in our minds about being a woman that I think we have started to believe that we should be like men instead of working on recreating that stigma that women are weak, women are passive, women ... you can fill the blanks.
I think that it is up to us to change these dynamics and define what being a woman really is. Is it having a home and a career? Is it having just a career? Is it just having a baby and being a mother? There is no judgment on the answer as long as you know your choice comes from your heart and not from the programming that society has branded us with where now women are superwomen and can do everything without feeling tired or wanting to give up. Some women are happy being mothers and not having a career, some women love having a career and want no kids, some women want both and as long and there is harmony in how they deal with those roles, they are able to keep their happiness levels high and enjoy life. Don't let others define who you are! Just know that to be a woman is not to be a pretend man.
Blessings )0(
"There is no judgment on the answer as long as you know your choice comes from your heart and not from the programming that society has branded us with where now women are superwomen and can do everything without feeling tired or wanting to give up."
ReplyDeleteWell said! It really isn't about the glass ceiling anymore (although in a lot of industries that still most definitely exists). Now the struggle women face is to feel like they are allowed to NOT choose EVERYTHING. We fought for the choice, for the ability to choose ANYTHING we wanted to do/be. But society somehow warped that into 'women should choose EVERYTHING': work, husband, kids, social circles, homemaking, etc. It can be overwhelming for a woman to stand up and say "This is who I am and damn you for saying I need to be x, y and z too!" Society tries to put us in so many many little boxes that it can become difficult to see the whole "woman" and not all the categories she's been separated into.
Anyway, love your post! Thanks for sharing.