The Power of Womanhood
In honor of women’s history month, I thought it was important to give a shout out to the women in the building. As a woman, it can sometimes feel like it is more of a burden than a blessing to be a woman. Women are expected to be the nurturers for family, friends, partners, bosses, etc, while also being strong and able to do so many things at once. Sometimes, it feels like we are expected to be everything all at once. This additional pressure to be everything can lead to stress that may contribute to depression, anxiety, and all sorts of other mental health issues that interfere with us being able to live our most well lives.
One recent film that so poignantly exemplifies what it is like to be a woman is the movie, “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. If you haven’t seen it, the main character is a mother, wife, and entrepreneur who has many different experiences and finds herself a bit lost in the sauce of it all. On top of that, she has a daughter who is also dealing with various aspects of womanhood. While I don’t want to spoil the movie, it is such an apt reminder of what happens in many of our lives: we follow societal narratives-get married, have children, and rarely feel like we have time to fully be ourselves, and/or we challenge various societal and communal narratives-perhaps to choose not to have children, or live very independent lives and also feel like we cannot fully be ourselves.
One concept that I have been pondering lately is if it is possible to allow ourselves to fully be us and if that can translate into a superpower. For me and some of my clients, we have discovered that it just might be possible. One way is to acknowledge that we are beautifully human. This means that I can accept the freckles on my face, and the love handles on my hips. I can allow myself to make mistakes at work because I am going to anyway. Acknowledgment allows us to identify what is needed for ourselves and give it to ourselves in a way that does not diminish who we are. From there, we can choose to radically accept ourselves. I can fully embrace being a single thirty-something with no children. I can talk about my business in spaces where men may be the only ones talking about business. Finally, I can make rest for myself an expectation. I can choose to regularly take breaks to breathe, sleep, and grab a bite to eat, just as others do because that helps me sustain my superpowers.
As a woman, our superpower can be weaving our own unique narratives about our lives. The women that we hear about throughout history are rarely noted for following societal narratives. In fact, many women have been known for being the ones who notice injustice and spoke up. They did something that they were not expected to do. We all have the opportunity to do something that we are not expected to do because we are all unique. This month and beyond, I encourage you to think about what narratives are at play in your life. Where do they come from? And, if you had the superpower, how would you change the narrative? Talk to another woman about your ideal narrative and if you both feel comfortable, hold each other accountable to making that narrative more of your reality, instead of all the previous narratives gathered over time that is barriers to you living your most well life. The more that we can embrace feeling like a woman, however we feel it, the more we move to toward more well individuals, and a more well society.