Celebrate Women - 2021
Good afternoon wonderful readers! Today’s post is a pressing “hot topic” that I find to be so beneficial to discuss during this month of celebrating women.
As a woman in the modern world, it can feel so defeating to not be following the societal standards that today’s culture is putting forth as the end all be all for women. I don’t know about you, but the general narrative surrounding international women’s day and women’s history month is “the boss babes” that have accomplished x, y, or z should be celebrated. If you’re anything like me, then I suspect that this doesn’t resonate with you in the slightest. The idea of being a “boss babe” is the opposite of enjoyable, and the concept of focusing on the extreme “self-love” that women preach is terrifying because you find that you have a selfless aspect of your heart that you choose to nurture and find yourself filling your cup through caring for others.
Society doesn’t tell you that being gentle and nurturing is something to be proud of. Culture doesn’t tell you that cultivating relationships, spaces, and community is a noble act. But rather, we have been force-fed the narrative that women need to “kick butt”, “make people come to us”, and “focus on ourselves” because that is “self-love”.
In light of celebrating women, why don’t we celebrate the inherent qualities that make women just that, women? Why aren’t we commending the stay-at-home wife or mother on all of the hard work that she does to create and maintain her home? Why aren’t we applauding the woman who lives a more traditional and elegant life for her bravery to stand up for her natural state in a world that wants to cancel anything and everything that doesn’t fit their idea of correct and acceptable?
To the stay-at-home wife, you’re valued, seen, and appreciated. The love and nurturing that you put into creating a space for your spouse and family to decompress and connect at the end of the day is so commendable. The self-motivation that is required to get through your daily tasks and errands is such a wonderful sign of strength. The patience that is required on long hard days when you take the time to make others feel loved and appreciated is a beautiful aspect of womanhood that is so underappreciated.
To the mother that is actively caring for her home and children, you are doing a great job. The flexibility to change plans based on another person’s needs is not something that many career people are well-versed in. The introspection that is required to know how to best care for your child is a skill that only a mother will know. The patience, love, selflessness, and compassion that you show to those around you are some of the most difficult traits to learn in a setting other than embracing your role as a mother and woman, and you are doing a great job.
For the woman that either cannot step away from her job or is waiting for her moment to fulfill her calling as a stay-at-home wife and/or mother, the time will come. Continue to feed yourself the information that builds you up, the information that is going to prepare you to care for your home in the most valuable way. Learn about the ways to show your future spouse the love that they deserve. Start practicing the lost art of selflessness, elegance, and turn away from cultural norms and societal standards that you don’t agree with. Learn to be okay with living counterculturally, this is a gift. Living with the culture is something that many people will get lost in the nitty-gritty of “keeping up with the Joneses”, while you and I are lifting each other up and growing as women.
While the role of a traditional woman may be lost in the wind to many people, it is not lost here. This is a place where we are going to build each other up, grow in the people that we were biologically supposed to be, and take part in the beauty that is being a woman.
Let’s celebrate each other and build each other up! Feel free to share the moments that you wish the world would show appreciation toward that are so often dismissed for not obliging with their narrative.
