By Charlene M Brown
Have you ever been around a pregnant lady and she says she has a craving for something that sounds crazy to the rest of us? Like marshmallows and pickles, for example? (Maybe the pregnant lady was/is you.)
Women with baby bellies are great examples of speaking up and getting what they need at the moment! They are definitely the squeaky wheels that get the oil (have you ever tried to NOT give a pregnant lady what she needed—WHOA!—I bet you only made that mistake once!)
And this is a lesson we can all learn from! Certainly, there are feminine wiles at play here too. Pregnant Ladies cry—a lot! And as men go, most of them hate when a woman cries and in their manly ways, will do what it takes to make their woman stop crying.
But more than that, preggos (lol) usually get what they want when they want it because their voice is the loudest and getting their needs met is the most important thing to them at the moment!
How many women do you know who are meek and quiet, then complain about not getting their way or wonder why they have been passed over? They may even look with green eyes towards others who are getting the promotions or the recognition.
This doesn’t serve anyone.
And I am speaking to myself here too! Sometimes I don’t speak up where I could, then complain about the results (or lack of results)!
In my head I see it so differently than what actually plays out. And the irony is that, when I was younger, I spoke up much louder and much more often! I was definitely a squeaky wheel.
And I think it would be a good move for me to get back to being a squeaky wheel as an adult!
In the year of endless trainings, I took an excellent course on girl’s behavior. (I am paraphrasing here) Before girls reach the age of about 8, they speak up for themselves as often as boys of the same age group. But at about that age is when girls and boys start to definitively separate by gender.
It is also about this age when girls are taught to “play nice” and to “go along to get along.” It is about this age when real gender division starts to occur, and girls so often, “lose their voice.”
We gain it back sometimes, often during pregnancy, when our biological needs force us to speak up (because if Baby doesn’t get those pickles and marshmallows NOW, everyone is gonna have problems!) But what happens when Baby is born? Where does our voice go?
Sometimes we have not spoken up for so long, that we forget that we have a voice at all.
But we Do! All of us do in fact, have voices! And they need to be heard! It might take some practice (so practice it!) to re-member our own voice, but it is well worth it!
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Marianne Williamson (though it is often credited to Nelson Mandela):
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Do You Love Your Life Now!? I DO!! (Because I am Powerful Beyond Measure—and you are too!)
Related posts:
- Facing Yourself!
- F.E.A.R. 10.0
- Scaring the Skeletons Away!
- Go! Date Your Self!
- Balanced Life: There’s No Such Thing!
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© 2009 You Can Love Your Life Now!
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