I Feel Like A Woman

Every time that I drive my son's car around town to do errands, he has a Shania Twain CD that he puts in for me to listen to. It is one of the few CD's that he has that we both like.

This article was inspired by one of Shania's songs and that is where the title of this article comes from. It may be the name of her song even. I am not sure. I love the Music video that she did for this song. She always looks as if she is having the time of her life doing these videos.

My favorite lines in the song are these:
"I feel like a woman."
"I want to be free to feel the way that I feel."
"The best thing about being a woman is the prerogative to have a little fun."

Personally, I think the best thing about being a woman is the prerogative to be free to feel whatever I feel. Men aren't always given that opportunity. Women are allowed to cry over anything and everything. Much of society consider a man who cries as being a sissy. To me, seeing a man cry makes him that much more of a man, a man who is secure in being who he is whatever the circumstances or emotions that come his way.

Because of the incest, I didn't always want to be a woman. I was a tomboy during most of my childhood liking to be running around outdoor rather than cooped up in the house doing housework. Reading a book was the only thing that I wanted to do when I was indoors. Boys seem to have so much more freedom that girls. I was heartbroken the day that I was told I could no longer wrestle with the boys because it wasn't ladylike. I was about 10 or 11 years old at the time.

To me, being a woman-child was the reason that I was abused, so I didn't want to be that. Being a woman meant that I had to go through the pain of periods every month. Wouldn't it be nice if men could have a period at least half of the time. Of course, there probably wouldn't be any babies born if men had to experience the monthly pains of menstuation and forget about them actually going through the pain of labor and giving birth. I was told that men enjoyed sex and women weren't supposed to. I can thank my husband Daniel for teaching me that that lie was just that, a lie.

Both of my parents taught me that it wasn't ok to feel. My mom taught by example, in that she didn't express feelings. She buried them. My dad taught that the alcoholic, him, was the only person who could express his anger. His anger was always in the form of verbal abuse, name calling and rage.

Today, I enjoy being a woman in all of its glorious and not so glorious aspects. I love who I am today. Today that means fully embracing all of me, including those emotions that I have had to learn to express in a healthy manner. Being angry is ok. Being responsible for what I do with that anger is ok. Being joyful is ok too. Happy, angry, sad, frightened are all ok to feel.

I love the line from Shania's song that says, "I want to be free to feel the way that I feel." Today, I am free to do just that or not, whichever I choose to do. Today I can glory in the needs and wants of my mind and body. Today I am connected to both body and mind.

I love playing grownup and being feminine, putting on pretty clothes, doing my hair and makeup. I also love wearing hats or just jeans and a teeshirt, as my mood strikes. I also love playing a child and having fun. Women are allowed to do all of these much easier than a man.

For most of my life, I was way too serious. I had to learn how to play and how to laugh. Laughter is another thing that my husband Daniel taught me. He says he liked my smile so much when we were dating that he would play the clown just to make me laugh so that he could see me smile. I had a shy smile back then. Now I laugh out loud. I believe that one of the reasons that God created mankind was to bring laughter into His world. See if you can tickle God's funny bone today with your laughter and sense of humor.

Today, be all that you can be in all that you do. If you are a woman, be that woman to the best of your abilities. If you are a man, be that man to the best of your abilities. Don't let lies keep you from living your life to the fullest. We are all children of God and that is a glorious thing to be. Blessings to all.
Patricia