I have previously written about how I began my blog writing. It has been over a year now. The social isolation and early lock down of the Covid 19 pandemic in Australia last April became the impetus for its emergence. With time and no distractions, I was able to incubate the project of creating Healing the Matriarch as a website blog. I also instigated a Facebook page and private group to allow a community of women to gather and share their wisdom and life experience. For me, it has been a beautiful, authentic experience.
While I was in physical isolation from the world, I was continuously learning from a variety of online sources and reading copious numbers of books. Among my inspirations were Eckhart Tolle and the Sounds True Community, Kristen Neff and Chris Germer’s work on Self Compassion and Miquel Ruiz with his Toltec wisdom of The Four Agreements. Some of the many influences that I have included on the resources page of my website.
With my growing awareness and mindset, I also dabbled in the idea of becoming a coach, mentor or women’s circle facilitator. I enrolled in courses and enthusiastically digested the course materials they offered. I loved what I was learning. I wrote more blogs. I became a more proficient writer with practice and learnt more about blogging techniques through the Problogger Community. My writing was showcased on their learning site and also shared with organizations such as Motherless Daughters Australia. I spoke at a local Soroptimist conference.
It was an organic growth of my blog writing that aligned with my own journey. A journey of a woman finding her place in the world after motherhood and teaching young children. At times the journey was messy, similar to the mucky transformation of the cocooned caterpillar into a butterfly. Some days I would step confidently into my new persona, loving the world I was inhabiting, and at other times I would be an emotional wreck. So much healing took place – from unprocessed grief, family relationships needing transforming and my own uncertainty and lack of esteem and confidence.
I threw myself into the things I loved. Connecting with friends, yoga and meditation and rekindling my passion for dance. I remembered the person I was before I married and took on my husband’s name. I wanted to take the things I enjoyed so much about her, my young adult self, into my current identity.
There came a point where I felt evolved, the emerged butterfly. Filled with the wisdom of my journey. I continued writing with increasing clarity honed by the internalized life lessons I had learnt. I thought about whether my knowledge needed to be wrapped up in a business model. This was not me, nor for a variety of reasons a direction I felt motivated to take. Perhaps the younger me would have jumped at it but focusing on my writing was the passion that made more sense.
Your uniqueness is your greatest strength, not how well you emulate others.
Simon S Tam.
People regularly go on journeys of transformational change. Each time we transition through a stage of our lives we build a reserve of wisdom that we feel is worth sharing with others. How we share our life stories is dependent on our motivation and personality. It is possible to do so in a way that makes perfect sense to us and also encourages others. To create a unique offering that honours our particular talents, style and abilities.