Woman

This is the post powerful time of my life.  For the first time I see myself as a free-standing, independent, individual, master of my universe and devoted disciple to personal growth and expanding boundaries.  I am, all at once, confused and amazed at the person I have become, the issues that move me and the community that I can finally call home.  I am a woman, something I have not always been proud of, and rarely identified with.  I am intoxicated with the power I now draw from all things feminine.  I am humbled by the women that have gone before me, fighting societal norms and restrictions to be heard, to be seen, to be human.  I am speechless with the bounty I feel from my circle of sisters, a community I never before belonged to and never thought I would.  This is what this powerful time feels like to me...overwhelming with abundance and the potential for enormous change.

Who was I before?  

With all that inspires me, empowers me, moves me to tears I wonder at the state I existed in before, where none of this mattered.  Now, I read about women of the 1800’s weighed down by clothing, confined by society and I feel them crying out to be free, as though they are me.  I googled ‘courageous women in history’ and discovered the women’s labor movement of the 1930’s, and I wept for their bravery, knowing they were shunned for standing out, for making trouble, for being heard instead of just being seen.  I am all of these women, and they are me.  Each time they pushed back, stood firm and called out, they did it for me, and I am thankful.

I have gained the power to be a woman from the experiences of all women, past and present  I had no connection before.  I felt no attachment, no community.  I was adrift without my feminine spirit, a huge chunk of my soul was missing and I did not know it.  I didn’t know to call that void ‘woman’.

I am woman.  I am one of an enormous community of beings with huge hearts that can hold and heal, nurture and support, lift and set free.  I am woman, at one with all who came before me, that their struggles were not in vain.  I am woman, one heart, two hands open to all women, sharing their journey, supporting their dreams, lifting their spirits.

This is the most powerful time of my life, where I have stepped into myself.  I will fill my silhouette with all that comes from being a woman and grow strong.  It’s not comfortable yet, like a new pair of shoes, all shiny and un-smudged with a little pinch in the toes.  I will wear this new me with bold and audacious pride, until I fill out all the wrinkles and creases with confidence, grounded in knowing that a Woman is the very best thing I can be.