Growing up, I believe at a young age I was known as the 'bossy girl' in class. Occasionally, I would get this thrown around the classroom as I got older but more often when I was younger. Then I became the quiet girl, the one that was too nervous to open her mouth because she was the chubby girl in the class and on the swim team that wanted to please everyone else. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, I became very sensitive and decided that I would keep my mouth shut and let people walk all over me. I honestly didn't get what I would consider, self-respect for myself until about 8 months ago now and that was when a mixture of trauma happened in my life and the two things that I immediately told myself afterwards is,
I am getting off the pill & I am going to grad school.
I always thought that being on birth control was really empowering for me, which it is for some women. Without the invention of birth control I truly believe the inequality between women and men would be so much worse without it and many woman and children would be living in poverty all over the world. Unfortunately, there are still parts of the world where birth control is not accessed or communities are incredibly against it for things like religious reasons; this even happens a lot more often than you think in the United States.
For me though, I always considered it empowering to know that I have access to this pill and it's awesome. But after a mixture of traumatic events, I had already studied a bit of a natural birth control but didn't feel supported and was never willing to open my own mouth for myself. I stayed on birth control because I was too scared to accept the unnecessary judgement from others. Ridiculous right?
The minute I threw my last birth control package into the garbage, I was so proud of myself. I was proud of myself to say that I chose to take the time to learn about my body that the education and the medical system failed to teach me long ago and I was choosing to make a decision for myself without thinking of anyone else's opinion.
Once I started investing into the time to learn about my health, my body and my choices I so empowered. I love knowing that I can walk into a doctor's appointment and if I know that they're not acknowledging my symptoms that I have a choice to keep seeking help from doctors until I find someone that takes me as seriously as I take myself. I love knowing that when I sit at the dining room table, I can talk about my follicular phase, luteal phase, ovulation and look at my cycle and know what is happening and why. I don't feel ashamed anymore. My life is my life, my body is my body and my voice is my voice and I love that I was born into a circumstance where I have the resources to have these choices that I can take charge of for myself.
I get to look at my phases and try to nourish my body appropriately through exercise and diet according to what I believe my body needs. Also, I'm way more intuitive than I used to be.
I truly believe this male-dominated society is the reason that periods are looked down on so horribly. The power of your cycle is unbelievable and how connected the women's body is to the earth is incredible. Did you know that a woman's menstrual cycle is naturally aligned with the moon cycle? Key note: women that are not on hormonal birth control will likely not experience this as hormonal birth control puts your body into a consistent not so natural state of being. I personally, ovulate with the new moon and have my period on the full moon. Crazy and I love every second of it.
Also, I have decided that I want to go to grad school. I didn't think it was something I originally wanted. I thought for a while that I had to be this perfect partner that just had kids and managed to find side work. When every fibre in my being came from such strong independent women that my insides would boil every time I fed this lie to myself. I believe that I am a smart, creative, and passionate person and I am going to use that in this life. I am going to become a mom one day because I want to become a mom but I also want a career that empowers girls and women. I can now say that that career is in naturopathic medicine.
On Moonli, I want to recognise the amount of privilege that I have to be able to do this. Have this blog, ability to educate myself, and the choice to choose my birth control. Not everyone has that and I constantly have to remind myself. I believe that every women has the right to choose the best birth control for themselves (I'm including safe abortion in this one even though it is not legally termed birth control) regardless of the financial or class status. At the same tone, around the world society and governments need to empower women by enabling enough suitable work that also pays them a proper living wage. Emphasis on proper, as many countries have a living wage that still isn't even close to what we need. We all deserve these rights but so many countries and societies believe that we don't.
We are so powerful and unfortunately, we are going to have to take full charge in our movement. We need to end the stigma against periods, abortions, birth control, and this belief that women can't have careers and have families. We can do as much as we want and I truly believe that.
What empowers you? Is it going to college, being a mother, being a single independent woman, travelling, teaching, doing yoga, being in the armed forces, etc.? You tell me.
Xoxo,
Moonli
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