Hello SOTGC community,
Here is a wonderfully inspiring and “change requesting” post by our lovely Conscious Living author, Ms. Jennifer Laurent.
A few girlfriends and I have recently started scheduled lunches together. It is a time for us to get together to talk, laugh, connect, vent, and eat!! We are able to communicate about new loves, work issues, life transitions, and anything else that may come up in our lives. Our lunches are a space of support and ease, a space where we can be ourselves and let it all go. Most importantly, it is a male-free, girls-only time for us throughout our busy lives.
As I have thought about these cherished lunches, I have been thinking about how absolutely necessary it is for women to make time to come together, away from male influence. I have always found it interesting to watch the way that women seem to interact with one another. In my experience, women from a very young age can be competitive, unsupportive, and jealous of one another. It’s as though we treat each other as a possible threat, someone who can harm us or bring us down. This has always shocked me and truly made me curious as to why we would behave this way toward one another. Is it because of male presence, a history of being hurt by another woman, or have we simply bought into a false story told to us early on?
Women are such amazing and powerful individual beings, and when willing to come together, are unstoppable.
If you have ever been in a room full of women, you know that there is a palpable energy that arises quickly full of strength, creativity, and determination. When we support one another it seems as though no problem is too big to overcome and in a sense, we truly can move mountains. I have girlfriends who are a source of strength. They provide me with perspective, inspiration, and motivation. They are ready to help when needed and give of themselves, as well as their resources. It feels so amazing when I am able to assist a girlfriend by sharing of me, my research, or my own work. They are valued allies and co-creators.
I wonder how much more we could all accomplish if women as a whole were willing to come together in support of one another. To unite and build each other up, pooling resources, lending a helping hand, and supporting one another. If we were able to find a way to trust one another and understand that we do not have to create this false story of competition and mistrust. We have so much to offer, so much to share and there is much to be accomplished in our world.
Join me in melting down any false or imagined walls you may have built up throughout your life.
I am sure many of us, me included, have experienced at least one situation with another woman that has left us feeling hurt or scared. Maybe we were disappointed, betrayed, or abandoned. Maybe we simply learned not to trust or to guard ourselves. Whatever your story is, it is time now to create a new one. Time to find ways to come together and unite into the powerful community that we truly have the potential to be. Let’s create the story of an imprint in time where the universe shifted in a positive direction because women came together in love, support, and connection. It’s all up to us…
I LOVE what you’re saying here Jen! I’m finally letting all the walls come down from the history of repeated hurts from women in my life. It started off feeling very scary, but I quickly decided that because I trust myself completely, that I can allow others into my life and trust them as well. When we trust ourselves to honor the boundaries we have in place, then we are less likely to get hurt by anyone. It’s an empowering way to stop the finger pointing and put the responsibility on ourselves of how a relationship is going to progress.
I am very much on board with what you speak of here and believe that women are tired of the competitiveness and back stabbing and want to step out of this type of mentality. I believe that if we show them the way, and be an example of pure love and acceptance, that they will follow suit.
My heart is wanting to blaze a trail in this very direction and will be calling upon all my ‘Girl Power’ to assist in making this dream come to life!
Great article and I’m so happy you have surrounded yourself with such great women!
I am with you on this one! I will never understand the jealousy of another female or anyone for that matter. I cherish my girlfriends and am friends with each of them for different reasons. I admire, respect and value each gift they have been given. I actually love my girl time because it allows me the opportunity to learn and grow in ways that I could not do alone.
It is a shame that so many women look at each other as competition but I do think that little girls are brought up to look pretty and behave a certain way. From early on they are conditioned to be that way by society. I mean look at the toys we are given and the stories we are told. We are not taught to fight for each other and to have each others backs like boys. I also think many girls start dimming their lights early on so they don’t shine too bright because they are fearful of what other girls might think of them.
Life is tough and regardless of what we want to think it is still a very male dominated world. We have had to witness the boys club for a long time. We as women need to make that shift and start banning together. No more talking down about each other and especially no judging of one another. Let’s try to stay positive and learn from one another because alone we are capable of many things but together we are capable of making things happen in more ways than we can imagine!
Thank you for this post! I hope women do read this and know GIRL POWER is everything! United we are so POWERFUL! I am grateful to have you as my friend, my sister and most importantly my fellow female! You my friend ROCK!!! LOVE YOU!!!