Women, Ageing and ‘the shelf’

What does the shelf mean to you?

For us it is the thing that has us in its grip from an early age as women. There is an unspoken contract that says that by a certain age we need to be partnered up and having babies.

It is so embedded in our societies that when we choose not to abide by these rules we are required to explain ourselves.

So who made the shelf and what keeps it on the wall?

A Woman Turning 40: Celebrating the Beauty of the True Woman

I am a gorgeous, single woman with no children and have never been married. Last year I found myself turning 40.

A few years ago, I spent a lot of time worrying that time was running out – ‘time’ being biological time. It is common knowledge that a woman’s chance of conceiving naturally after 40 is much slimmer than a woman in her 20s or 30s. The idea of turning 40 was D-Day, I figured that 40 was the cut-off mark that would determine if I was destined to be a mother or not.

A Letter for all Women and Girls

This is a letter for all daughters to read to get a glimpse of how their mothers may have felt about them when they were teenagers or now that they are teenagers. This letter may also uncover how we wished our mothers had communicated to us when we were becoming women and making our way in the world. This letter offers us an opportunity to feel and heal any sadness we may have hiding away in relation to our mothers and our relationship. Where there is a line just insert your name, reading this letter as if your mother wrote it just for you.

Media & Women: True Qualities of Women

by Shannon Everest, Australia

While sitting eating my lunch at work, and fanning through the latest Vogue mag. in the patient waiting room, I read bits and pieces of an article about a new and upcoming young actress called Alice Englert. The article was titled ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

The article itself is not what is important here – what is important is the ponderings that occurred after reading the article.

This young woman of only 18 years was being celebrated with such expressions as  ‘Englert heads into the light’… She was being placed on a pedestal for all the world to see, described with such beauty and awe, but for all of the things she can ‘do’, the way she looks, the way she ticks boxes – and not for who she actually is. Lauded for how she has managed to carve her way into the industry, descriptions of her physical beauty and the uniqueness of her old-world ‘look’.

I found myself wondering, how does she really feel? What does she do to care for herself working in the film industry? What did she have to go through to get there?

Inspiration is a Gift we Choose for Ourselves

by  Rebecca Poole, Health Practitioner, BHsc, Brisbane

When we think of gifts that we might give ourselves we don’t usually think about giving ourselves the gift of Inspiration. I know until recently I hadn’t! For clarification, I am not talking about the bodily function of breathing air into our lungs. I am talking about the Ah hah! moments that can change our lives, and the little tug we get in our heart to tell us there is a more true way to live in our lives. This is what I call the start of inspiration.

Most of us would have experienced feeling inspired by someone and how uplifting this can be, but I had always assumed this had more to do with how inspiring a person was rather than an interaction that I was actively and crucially part of i.e., a gift I could choose to give myself. I am continuously inspired by many, including Mary-Louise Myers and Jenny Ellis, the presenters at last month’s Esoteric Developers Women’s Group in Brisbane. I am inspired by how preciously and delicately Mary-Louise holds herself, and how beautiful she is when she humorously shares how she has lived her life, warts and all. Jenny has such an art for sharing her awareness about life in a way that makes it simple and easy for others to grasp and make their own. During the last women’s presentation I was admiring how light and joyful Jenny felt while talking about her own experiences of menopause. I am forever grateful to these two women, whose reflection of grace, strength and beauty in their 40’s and 50’s allows me to embrace aging (something most women struggle with) joyfully and fearlessly.