One Thousand Women
There are a lot of times when I need help and it isn’t always easy to ask, especially when I don’t even know what the problem is. I know I’m not alone in this feeling and I imagine it comes up a lot for young women who are thrown into womanhood before they know it.
There are things you have to do to feel good; drinking water, a healthy diet, following your values and knowing that following a path not meant for you is not sustainable. Particularly for me, I have difficulty standing up for myself. A pacifist by nature, hating confrontation by nurture. My mum would always tell me that I should be brave whatever the situation was. She was the beginning of my thousand women.
I thought if my mum wouldn’t tolerate whatever was happening then I shouldn’t either. It felt like she was standing behind me- encouraging my strength. So if it was me and my mum, why not my grandmother as well? Add to that my aunts, my cousins, my ancestors and I had a whole crowd behind me. And it kept growing. Every friendship I made with women I learned they wouldn’t want me in a shit position either. For fun I added celebrities too because I just know Jennifer Aniston would have my back if she could.
Wonderful women and their inclination for sharing their experiences with others has resulted in me strengthening my own compassion. I try to keep track but physically it doesn’t matter. It’s this feeling that I’m standing in an amphitheatre and every seat is taken by someone cheering me on. How could I accept anything less than I deserve if I've got a whole crowd watching? I wouldn’t allow any one of them to be slightly mistreated let alone allow anything else unwanted to happen to them.
The beauty of this metaphor is that you, yourself, are part of so many other women’s thousand, I promise you are. I know that there is nothing I wouldn’t do for my sister, my friends, even a stranger on the street. Taking a deep breath as I write this I can feel support from everyone I’ve met, telling me: you can do this. No, no, you can do anything.
The women you work with can be included, your friendly waitress at a restaurant. Someone you follow on Twitter - there is no boundary to who you call on spiritually. All around the world even in the loneliest and most isolated moments, you can know that you’re connected.
Like guardian angels, my thousand women protect me. Keep me company. Keep me going. If you’re reading this maybe you need it too. So why not try it for yourself? Let me and anyone else in your team be the first in your crowd. Know that you are supported and want the best for you. Put yourself in our crowds too! Trust that what you want for me is what I want for you. And nobody can overpower you when you’ve got one thousand women on your side.
-Stephanie Jane