Where We Can Learn to Be Women of Inspiration
Women of Inspiration Are Everywhere
Though it sometimes feels like the pressures and difficulties that women must surmount are both incredible and completely unique, women of inspiration have been overcoming seemingly immutable obstacles for all of human history. Looking back to the beginning of recorded history, the list of inspirational women and women who shaped history against the odds is in and of itself exciting. However, some of the most touching and personally useful stories are those of everyday women helping others as part of support groups for women. They never become celebrities or receive public recognition for their kindness, bravery, and self-sacrifice. They just give to women that they see and can help.
Breast cancer survivor groups are rife with this kind of behavior. Their stories are often the same: she was a mother, a punk rocker, a banker, a junior college phys ed teacher, about to sail around the world. Then she found the lump, got terrified, was crushed by pity, had surgery, started chemo or radiation, and became a fighter. These women of inspiration take an experience that should have literally destroyed them – broken the spirit the same way it sabotaged their bodies and turned the person in the mirror into the stranger – and turn this trauma into a learning experience.
All of a sudden they are sharing their experiences, comforting others, spending finite time and quickly exhausted energy resources to share hope with other women feeling the same fears. Perhaps one of the things that makes them so noticeable, so worthy of respect is that they aren’t the superstars who will make the history books. Armed only with their will, while vomiting and trying to decide whether a wig and breast reconstruction surgery would make sense, they hold on to hope and faith and love, and they happily try to help others find their way to the same place.
The point isn’t to suggest that a woman who is struggling with an unresponsive boss or just has had a string of bad luck should just chin up and appreciate it “cuz those warriors do.” The point is that women in some of the worst situations find strength and grace by looking within themselves and to others, so why not try and do the same.
