March has already marked International Women’s Day and Mothering Sunday is just around the corner; both of these occasions are wrapped up in what has become known as Women’s History Month - all put in place to highlight and celebrate in some way the ‘achievements’ of women, not just in the here and now but also through the mists of time.
As I consider ‘women of achievement’ a number of names and faces pass through my mind, from Rosa Parkes to Spine Race Champion Jasmine Paris with a host of politicians, activists, sportswomen and charity workers all jostling for position in my thoughts, but the one that seems to want to stand out is the single figure of an African woman transporting her jar of water or basket of produce.
In her surroundings she will be a woman of ‘achievement’ as she takes the journey to find the basics of life to keep those around her nourished and well looked after.
This in turn brings thoughts of how as a young woman my image of myself was about wearing those ‘hats’ of being a wife and a mother, decisions and choices were made around achieving that ‘goal’, even though as I reflect there was a part of me that wanted to fight against the stereotypical – the fear of being the only female in an otherwise male dominated ‘O’ level woodwork class led me to the misery of music lessons that ended in failure; a perceived notion that as a female officer in the Boys Brigade I was only good enough to attend to the ‘motherly’ duties meant I didn’t take the opportunity of the time to grasp hold of the more ‘gritty’ outdoor pursuits that have since become a way of life. My fight was always with myself, fear and what I understood, even in those ‘New Romantic’ days of the 80’s, to be the way ahead as a female.
On many occasions Mal has talked about the untapped, pent-up potential that he saw in me and as I write these words what stands out is that all those years ago there was a different person fighting to get out, held back by a host of negative mind-sets (some nurtured, some formed by circumstances, others from my own misconceptions and fears).
So where am I now as a ‘fifty something’ standing on the precipice of what can often be classed, for many women, as the ultimate challenge and change leaving behind those ‘child-bearing’ years?
Well, I am a woman: whose voice, even when it may not be right or agreed with, is allowed to be heard without constraint or disregard; who after years of not understanding or appreciating has come to an affinity with self-value & worth - learning to forgive and love herself; that desires to live in the fullness of life that she was created for – being creative, audacious, gentle and successful.
And what of those successes?
In amongst the moments, where no awards ceremony would roll out the red carpet, there have been many achievements, beyond the everyday getting up and doing life, that ‘the young girl from the Midlands’ would never have thought would appear on a roll of honour – those trips through mines and caves that enabled the attainment of a Local Cave & Mine Leaders Award in 2018, 50th birthday year; visits to numerous crags and climbing walls for work, fun and training, culminating in a Rock Climbing Instructors Award being obtained in ‘pandemic year’ 2020; miles of fells that have been trod, through wind, rain, snow and sun as part of a journey to accomplish the 214 Wainwrights of the Lake District; the paddling of canoes on both open and white water that have also led to days of being out in wild places on expeditions that have tested both the mental & physical; and then there have been the countless lives, from every age & corner of society, that I have had the privilege to speak words of hope and encouragement into.
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