FAREWELL SUPERWOMAN
At first I wanted to kill Superwoman.
Scoff at her shackles, dismiss her societal expectations, dance on her metaphoric grave. Farewell, old girl, and don’t expect me to bring flowers.
I stared long and hard at the pushing, struggling, striving girl inside me and deemed her broken, lost in her ways, somehow miles away from the illusive destination she was supposed to find. I looked at all the ways I’d overcome, the lengths I’d gone to for others, the successes I’d found against all odds and pitted all that bundle of strife and goodness against the abrupt halt and personal need that was suddenly dumped across my path.
The result? Stop trying to be superwoman, Kiesha, stop trying to save the world.
Stop. Just stop.
Really? Is this the best we can do?
I see it across books, across blog posts, across the very thoughts that sneak unguarded into my mind. That Pinterest-worthy Birthday party thrown by a friend - poor girl’s just trying too hard. That mom of five that homeschools her kids and still finds time to garden - bet she’s secretly miserable to her husband. That colleague that shows up day after day perfectly put together and flaunting her innate fashion sense - way to show us slobs where we really stand.
We’ve torn down superwoman when we should be holding her up. And we’ve sacrificed our own identity in the process.
The truth is that life is hard, obstacles must be overcome, there is heartache and heartbreak and times when we feel we have nothing left but have absolutely no choice but to continue on.
And the truth is that we were made for hard things, meant to overcome, purposed to meet heartache and heartbreak head on with a resiliency that pushes us forward when we would rather not continue on.
Thank God we sometimes look like we have some part of us put together in the process.
At first I wanted to kill Superwoman.
Now I want to listen to her, I want to understand her, I want to encourage her. I want to look at how she got here, discover her true story, assure her that she has not missed her destination, that she is indeed, even while falling apart, doing a good job.
And by her, I’m talking to me.
There is a journey to be taken to discover why we rise up when life gets hard, why we step into the burdens of others and why there are times when we need to stop, say no, sit down and reach out a hand for help.
I don’t want to kill Superwoman as much as I want to kill the narrative on who she is and who she should or should not be. We were meant for greatness, meant to bring something to this world that only we can, meant to fight hard and do hard things - meant to, indeed, be super women.
No, I don’t want to kill Superwoman, I want to resurrect her.