By: Donna Ashworth
There comes a day,
somewhere in the middle of every woman’s life,
when Mother Nature herself stands behind us
and wraps her arms around our shoulders,
whispering…
“It’s time!
You have taken enough now.
It’s time to stop growing up,
stop growing older
and start growing wiser – and wilder.
There are adventures still waiting on you
and this time,
you will enjoy them
with the vision of wisdom and the companionship of hindsight,
and you will really let go.
It’s time to stop
the madness of comparison
and the ridicule of schedule and conformity
and start experiencing the joys
that a life, free of containment and guilt, can bring.”
She will shake your shoulders gently
and remind you that you’ve done your bit.
You’ve given too much,
cared too much,
you’ve suffered too much.
You’ve bought the book (as it were)
and worn the t-shirt.
Worse, you’ve worn the chains
and carried the weight of a burden
far too heavy for your shoulders.
“It’s time” she will say.
“Let it go,
really let it go
and feel the freedom
of the fresh, clean spaces within you.
Fill them with discovery,
love and laughter.
Fill yourself so full
you will no longer fear what is ahead
and instead
you will greet each day
with the excitement of a child.”
She will remind you
that if you choose
to stop caring what other people think of you
and instead care what you think of you,
that you will experience a new era of your life
you never dreamed possible.
‘It’s time’ she will say…
“to write the ending, or new
beginning,
of your own story.”