Celebrating Women And Their Stories!

It's March 1st which means it is National Women's History Month! The theme this year is “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories”.

I love this theme! My interpretation of it is all about using our voices, being visible, and being in charge of our narrative.

As women, our voices have often been silenced. Unfortunately, this still occurs today. We can change that. We can begin today by using our voices are sharing something about ourselves, writing out our stories, speaking up in meetings, with family, and/or with friends.

By telling our stories, we share our experiences which makes them real. We take ownership of our stories when we tell them.

By telling our stories, we become seen and are visible. I love the Virginia Woolf quote, “for most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” While it makes me sad that women were not able to visibly be the author of so many great books and poems, they still found a way to make their voices heard. We, here in 2023, can share our stories and (if we choose) we can use our full name and let the world see our inner thoughts, beliefs, and stories.

By telling our stories, we are in charge of the narrative. We dictate what is said and how. We share our experiences instead of having someone who has never lived them, write them. We take ownership. This gives us increased confidence and strength.

By telling our stories, we are stepping into our own power.

We can tell our stories ourselves and we can have other women share stories that relate to us. We celebrate these women. We celebrate ourselves. We celebrate our stories.

Our stories are not always filled with joy and laughter. Many of our stories are of scarcity, struggle, domination, heartbreak, discrimination, and violence. They are also of strength we didn't know we had, sisterhood, healing, rising, prevailing, love, and surviving.

We've come so far but not far enough. In someways, it seems like we've made strides. Yet, in other ways, it feels like our progress has been minimal and is just beginning.

It wasn't until 1974 when women could be in charge of their own finances! I was 8 years old back in 1974. Some of you reading this, may not have been born yet. This has been a right you've had all your life. While 49 years ago seems like a long time ago, in the world of history, it is relatively recent.

This past year we have seen rights that many women have had since they were born, be taken away. It is scary to see this and realize other rights could also be taken away.

That is where sisterhood comes into play. Not all women believe in supporting other women. Some women do not want particular rights or believe them to be needed. Other women may believe that if they side with those in power, their rights may be protected - when ultimately, they will be contingent on whether those in power wish to allow them their rights.

Women are powerful beings. We have to be if our rights are being limited!

Research shows that women make excellent leaders. That we can manage many situations and do well with them. That we can (if we choose) grow a human being inside of us and then (if we choose to) raise that baby into a self sufficient, caring, kind, empathetic adult.

Women are intelligent and have made contributions to our history and are currently still doing so.

Women can choose any line of work they wish to focus their passion in - and women do excellent work.

Women are NOT dumb. Women CAN do math and science.

Women do not have to choose to be pretty or smart. Women can be intelligent, athletic, and also beautiful - on the inside and out!

Women can take care of others and they can take care of themselves. They can make sure they set boundaries and limits so they do not get burnt out.

Women can be tough as nails and they can be soft and loving. Women can experience the range of emotions and be okay with that.

I realize I am speaking in generalities. Not all will fit for all women. AND THAT IS OKAY! We are allowed to have our similarities and our differences. That is what makes us stronger together.

I thank the women that have come before me. I gladly pave the way with the women here with me. And, I hope to make the path a little easier for those women coming behind me.

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I do wish to share with you that I have put together Morning Motivations for Women!

These motivations are daily recordings, Mondays-Fridays, on a variety of topics related to women. They are inspiring, motivating, and an added bonus to your day. Some are even quick mini-trainings.

Each recording drops at 12:00 a.m. cst and is available for the entire day.

As a gift to you, I invite you to join in on these morning motivations. The link to join is https://bit.ly/MorningMotivational - just set up your free account and you are ready to go! There is also an app so the motivation recordings are easily accessible to you.

As a sample, here is a special morning motivation I recorded for today, https://youtu.be/fQ1Tf2tqXpQ- I look forward to welcoming you into my community! 💜

Thank you for being here! I am so grateful that you are,

xo Denise