Sleepy Thoughts

“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it’s right.” — Rosa Parks

I’m tired today. I noticed this morning that I wrote last night’s blog and forgot to hit publish. That’s very frustrating for me. But hey, here we are again, writing before bed. Still thinking about femininity. Still having to be intentional about embracing my own femininity. I do wonder if it will come naturally again?

About the quote: I hope you are encouraged by this quote from Rosa Parks. We often question whether we should have reported, set a boundary, or said “stop,” “no,” and “don’t,” but I want to remind you that if it was to make sure you felt safe, you did the right thing.

You’re Worthy of Your Desires

“Empathy is choosing to see ourselves in another despite our differences. It’s recognizing that the same humanity – the same desire for meaning, fulfillment and security – exists in each of us, even if it’s expressed uniquely.” -Vivek Murthy

March 30th, 2025, is when I started this journey toward embracing my femininity. After a few posts, I came to understand that I was pushing away all the things that my heart truly desired, and in turn, that was diminishing the parts of me that made me feel pretty.

Over the last five years, I’ve slowly lost confidence in my looks. This lack of confidence did not make me want to go to the gym. It did not prompt me to change my diet. You know what did? First off, taking care of my iron levels, which were way too low. Then finally taking intentional time to do the things I desired: to invest in skin care, to invest in gym shoes, to invest in hair products, and all the other little things I was denying myself.

I also have been letting myself nap when I’m tired. Recently, I was not able to absorb the content I had to read for school, and I just stopped and asked myself, “Okay, what do you need right now?” And I immediately answered, “I’m just so tired.” I trusted what my body was telling me and let myself nap as long as I needed (a mom nap, if you know what I’m saying). It wasn’t too long, but it was indeed needed.

What desires have you been denying yourself?

Jung on Feminine

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” -Carl Jung

I’ve been listening to Carl Jung videos on YouTube to explore his idea of femininity. He theorized the Anima and Animus. He says the Anima is the divine feminine in a man, and the Animus is the masculine in a woman. It’s interesting to see things that way. Some people allow their inner opposite to take the lead because they don’t feel safe.

Women often have to lead from their Animus to survive in the workforce, but my hope is that things are shifting. My hope is that women continue to excel and open more women-centered businesses, places where women can thrive as women.

I’m over here trying to figure it out myself, how to lead with all my femininity in tow. What does a workplace even look like that welcomes my femininity?

Femininity

“Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.” – Garson Kanin

I started to look more into femininity and I found that 54% of women 65+ felt highly feminine in comparison to only 20% of women between the ages of 18-29.

I think several factors are at play here. And now I’m interested. It could be from the demand of social expectations making younger women feel insecure in their femininity, it could be financial burden, and it could be how femininity is treated in the workplace. Or is it that the acceptance of femininity comes with age?

What do you think?

Works Cited

Horowitz, Juliana, and Kim Parker. “How Men and Women Rate Their Own Masculinity and Femininity.” How Americans See Men and Masculinity, Pew Research Center, 2024, pp. 44–51. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep64168.12. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming.” -Pablo Neruda

It’s coming, and we can’t slow it down. Spring is a welcomed season. Most people perk up, get outside, or maybe even start making summer plans. Spring means so many good things!

For me, it’s feeling like myself again. I’m not sure where I went or why I went there, but I’m glad to finally feel like myself again. Don’t let the world swallow you whole. It literally takes months, maybe years, to return to yourself. Stay away from places where you feel like you have to stay quiet to shine. Keep people around you who lift your authenticity and welcome all the complex pieces of your humanity.

How you feeling about spring?! I’m feeling like “Bring it on!”

When A Woman Stands Up For Herself

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women.” –Maya Angelou

I don’t think women should be pressured to stand up, but I do think that the women who do choose to stand up should recognize the liberation of their choice, no matter how big or small. I like to think that my choice will positively impact women of the future. I want them to have a world where they are supported and permitted to be exactly the women they were born to be. Not limited by job growth, not feeling unsafe in dark parking lots, not having to debate whether she should leave a job because her boss makes her uncomfortable; she can wear a dress, wear her natural hair, wear makeup, and whatever else makes her feel more confident and at home in herself.

Women Come Together

“Any time women come together with a collective intention, it’s a powerful thing. Whether it’s sitting down making a quilt, in a kitchen preparing a meal, in a club reading the same book, or around the table playing cards, or planning a birthday party, when women come together with a collective intention, magic happens.” -Phylicia Rashad

I love seeing this. I’m inspired by the way that women come together and keep us moving forward. I’ll tell you, a couple of years ago, I was (secretly) having a rough time adjusting to my job. This woman whom I adored for her ability to light up the room and her ability to accept everyone for who they are, came in with her much-loved house plant. And this was a mature plant. “I think of her as a mama plant,” she told me. Her gift immediately brought tears to my eyes. It lifted my spirit. And the fact that she trusted me with a plant she had nurtured for years made me feel so honored. I don’t know what moved her to bring the plant that day, but it turned my whole week around. I still have that mama plant. She’s thriving in my sunniest window.

Today’s Hike

“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” -Henry David Thoreau

I got to take my girls on a hike with my class, and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice to be outside, moving, and being active while learning about rock formations and seeing a waterfall. My girls paid attention and took in everything that they could while they were there. Hiking is fun but learning about science while you do it and way more fun!!

I’m so grateful for this year’s college experience.

The Dance

I’m getting frustrated about looking into femininity because it’s just a social construct. I just want to do what makes me feel at home in myself. There’s nothing to argue about here or prove when it comes to masculinity or femininity. There are days I allow my masculine traits to take the lead, to give my feminine self time to breathe. There’s a dance between the two, and I need both to reach my goals while maintaining a life filled with well-being and adventure. We all, men and women, should be able to seamlessly dance between the two. We should live in a world where these traits can be easily accessed when the situation calls for it. And we shouldn’t be shamed for doing things that improve our mental well-being.

We can learn to be comfortable with all these aspects of ourselves.

What are your thoughts on masculinity and femininity? Do you think it’s a social construct?

Trust Your Gut

 “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” –  E. L. Doctorow

Writing a novel is like this. Writing a poem is more like feeling your way through your house in the dark before your eyes have adjusted. Like you kind of know where everything is, but your distance may be off. That’s why you reach out your hands and feel your way through. Writing for me is making decisions and then feeling my way forward. If something feels like a dead end, I stop right there, delete, and retrace my steps toward the goal.

Either way, I’m using my gut and my experience. Generally, there are obvious signs to me as I write when the story begins to head in the wrong direction. A new writer might not understand those signs or trust their gut yet. And the same goes for me; there are obvious signs to a more advanced writer that I can’t yet see.

What I’m saying is that at this point in my writing life, I can feel things out and use my gut, but a good portion of it is applying my experience. Part of that experience is that I learned if I waste a lot of time forcing things to work, I overwrite; that means I’m going to have to delete a lot more of my work in the end. If I trust my gut from the start, I have a lot less to delete.

So keep writing. Don’t be afraid to scratch what’s not working to refine the story. Delete whatever you want, save whatever you want for later. You are an idea machine! Deleting a scene or a few paragraphs that feel off won’t destroy your progress.

But always know, rewriting is a huge part of the process. It’s better to get the initial story out than to waste too much time trying to avoid it.

To summarize, feel your way through, trust your gut, apply your experience, and don’t be afraid to rewrite. Most important point on the page: you are an idea machine!