You are more than enough In the military, you were trained to be both effective and efficient. Expectations were clearly stated. The chain of command and battle buddy system made it clear who should have demands of your time and whom you could ask for help if needed. There are very few instances in the military where you can fail as an individual because accountability is shared, as are success and failure. Civilian life is much less clear, structured, and collective which is why I find it to be a far more complex way of life. Why? Because when expectations are unclear and boundaries are porous, the construct of “less than” thrives. If you’re wondering what the construct of less than is, follow me for a moment. It’s Thursday. It’s been a long week. Your boss changed their mind for the millionth time on something this week which causes you to go back to square one for the millionth time, your pet/child won’t stop whining for that third straight hour, your significant other needs you to do something they are more than capable of doing themselves, and you are looking forward to that small cry you’re going to have by yourself in your car to release all these feelings that you simply aren’t enough. You can’t help but feel less than because if you weren’t then you would be able to meet all of these needs seamlessly. If this resonates with you, don’t worry, I’ve been there too. I won’t leave you alone in the place of less than. We all have our moments of simply feeling less than so don’t feel alone or ashamed. Often, this feeling sneaks in whilst we are distracted by the negative self-talk we are whisper-shouting at ourselves and it sits quietly in the corner of our brain, feeding on our insecurities and mistakes and slowly ever-growing. This is compounded by the fact that in our society, being a woman often means having a second shift—the household and family care duties that fall on women after a full day’s work.
Freedom Sisters Magazine
WomanWarrior -
SistHERly Love
