International Women’s Day, What does it mean to you?
To me, its not just about Women’s rights, equality and celebrating achievements. Its much more, its about strong women and women supporting other women instead of bringing them down. Women inspiring others, giving them hope, being their for others.
But behind each strong woman is a strong support network, either a partner, family members, friends etc Being a strong woman doesn’t mean you are naturally like that, it sometimes means you have been through hell and back to get where you are. Whether that is loved ones you have lost, illness you have endured or other trauma you have suffered in your life. Yes International Women’s Day is to celebrate accomplishments and the amazing people we look up to, who inspire us to fight on every day. However people often forget how that woman got to where she is, what did she go through to come out the other side and empower others.
Behind me is an incredible tribe and force of amazing, courageous and brave women. I am in awe and honoured to know the people who I have met over the years and can now call them my dear friends. Without them I would not have got through the last 9 years of my mental and physical chronic illnesses. I type this with tears in my eyes and a shaky bottom lip, just knowing how far I have come and who has got me here. I don’t have myself solely to thank for that, I have my husband, my family, my support group and other people to thank. My mum is one of the strongest women I know and I thank her every single day for not giving up on me, for believing in me and supporting me, even when I was extremely bad company in my suicidal days. My husband and I have also produced two amazing women (girls now but soon to be women!), they have inspired me every single day, they are my reason to get up in the mornings and to fight on. They are strong, empathetic beautiful human beings that I am so proud of. All these amazing people have kept me fighting on, they kept the flame alive when I didn’t want to be alive. I will be thankful and have immense gratitude to them for the rest of my life as without them I would not be here, FACT.
What is funny and so heart warming is I get so many messages every day from other women who thank me for being there for them, getting them through their illnesses etc What they do not realise is I only have them to thank for where I am today. Recently I have got messages saying how well I look and how well I seem to be doing on my road to recovery. I am a lot better then I was thats true, but I won’t lie its been the hardest thing I have ever been through. Recovering from any chronic illness is not an easy feat, it takes guts and determination to push through even on the darkest of days. I will keep fighting on and will continue to blog about my daily struggles and achievements in the hope that they inspire others to fight on too.
There is one lady, who I want to publicly thank, although I cannot say her name, but she will know who she is when she reads this. We do not see each other much as lives are busy and at the moment she is going through a particularly tough time, but she is always in my thoughts most days. She is the kindest, most thoughtful person I have ever had the pleasure in meeting, a beautiful soul (and her children are too). Our paths crossed about five years back and since then we have remained in contact. She is one person who has been through hell and back, loved ones she has lost over the years, a marriage breakup and many other battles she has faced. But despite all this, she stays true to herself, even when she is suffering, she still takes time to message and see people and check in with them, me being one. In fact she has just messaged me just now! Spooky! I just wanted to tell you about her, as these sorts of women do not understand how much people are inspired by them. I do not think she knows how much she helps people, she oozes empathy, if there was an award for the most empathetic person she would win hands down! Just wanted to say thank you to her and what a perfect day to do so on International Women’s Day!
This was just meant to be a very short blog just to share my thoughts about International Women’s Day and what it means to me personally. I also just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone out there that follows my blog, also all my support group members. You are all truly amazing, you inspire me every single day. I wish I could meet you all in person, but logistically it is not possible for me to travel around that far! Plus I hate flying lol! I wish I was rich so I could fly you all from your homes to a retreat somewhere, where we could meet and chat and get to know each other even more and more importantly a big hug! Thank you also to everyone who opens up to me, who trust me, I love helping people, although I wish I had a magic wand to cure you all (oh and myself!). I love you all with all my dizzy heart and keep fighting as there are better days to come…….x
Lots of love
La xxx