Happy International Women’s Day! And with the clarity of the full moon, today we celebrate the strength, resilience, and beauty of women all over the world. As we reflect on the many ways that women have shaped our world, I can’t help but think about the seasons and cycles of life that we all experience as women; something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

Throughout our lives, we go through many different seasons and cycles. From the first stirrings of puberty to the natural transition into menopause, each phase of our journey is an opportunity to grow, learn, and evolve. And as women, we have a unique strength and resilience that allows us to navigate through the ups and downs of life with grace and courage (insert qigong as my support tool and I hope you have one too!).

In our youth, we may experience the excitement and uncertainty of new beginnings as we navigate our way through school and relationships. I remember, as a late bloomer, desperately wanting to enter ‘womanhood‘ and it seemed to take forever. This was a season of uncertainty and comparison for me, along with the wave of hormones that I was learning how to navigate.

As we enter our adult years, we may face the challenges of building a career and finding our place in the world. I remember feeling both scared and uncertain, but also completely free. As I write this, I feel humbled by my privilege; I was born in a time and place where choices were limitless.

Then some of us go through the years of child-bearing and rearing. The memories of that time are a blur between BIG love, worry, sleep-deprivation, and, for lack of a better descriptor, investment. I had a clear purpose during this phase: to be sure my kids felt loved, supported, and safe; and that they could always come to me.

I received an important reminder at a recent qigong retreat in Sedona (Spring Forest Qigong Level 4 Zhenqi) shared by one of the participants and that was that LOVE does not equal WORRY. This is a powerful message for all women and one I wished I’d learned during the early years of child-rearing. But no worries, I’ve got it now!

As we move into our later years, we may experience the wisdom and grace that comes with a life well-lived, but this cliché is a bit lost on me as I feel instead these later years are a time when we step into our true selves. This is the most powerful season yet for me and it is not a winding down but instead, a rising up. This is a time when we may need to gently navigate around our current relationships and obligations to ensure we can grow and connect to ourselves on a SOUL level.

But no matter what season of life we may find ourselves in, we all have a common bond as women. We share a strength, a resilience, and a determination that has allowed us to overcome the obstacles that we face and to create a better world for ourselves and for future generations of women. Today I thank the women who came before me in my lineage, my mama, my mother-in-law, my grandmothers, and their mothers, and so on. Thank you.

So on this International Women’s Day, let us celebrate the seasons and cycles of life that we all experience as women. Let us honour the resilience, the courage, and the beauty that makes us who we are. And let us continue to support and uplift one another as we navigate through the different seasons of life. I encourage you to reach out to a woman in your life today and celebrate her as I am celebrating you.

Much love, light, and deep gratitude,
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Sue Crites MSc, NCP Holistic Healing & Qigong
suecrites.ca