What does it cost to be a woman?

This is the ultimate question for many women from all walks of life, but more so for women who have become Mothers.

When women make the choice to have children and start a family, their monetary value plummets, they can lose economic freedoms and a dwindling superannuation due to periods of paid and unpaid parental leave and casual work.

And let’s not mention the gender pay gap.

I am an over thinking woman. The thoughts and worries I put out each day could power every household in my neighbourhood – talk about renewable energy.

Most days I love being a woman. But recently I have been thinking about all the roles we play, in our increasingly busy lives. How we give so much of ourselves to our families, partners, careers, and others.  Like my patience it is spread thin.

This past week we have seen two powerhouses leave the building.

Australian journalist Stan Grant, walking away from Q+A and his passion, after racist treatment. All while leading with love in his heart, despite the vitriol of hate he has endured.

Then we said goodbye to musical icon, domestic violence survivor and one of the leaders of the women’s empowerment movement Tina Turner, who passed away at the age of 83.

When we refer to someone as a powerhouse, they are a person of a thing of great energy, strength or power.

When we label someone as a powerhouse, why does it become a sport to pull them down?

This week has been an emotional shit show.  

I have felt low. I have felt like a failure. 

Second guessing my abilities and contribution.  

I have cried several times in public, trying to shake off a stubborn feeling that won’t go away.  

It is hard to put yourself out there, for the world to see. You open yourself up to judgement, opinions and beliefs of others.  

Christmas .

It has been written and sung as the most wonderful time of the year.

Amongst the carols heard on high, giving of gifts and the preparation of a feast laid out across the family table there is such a lead up to the day.

It is a time of nostalgia. A time filled with our families - the ones we are born into and the ones we choose.

It is a season of love and kindness. A time to celebrate and say goodbye to the year that was.

If you asked most women if they thought they were independent, most would say yes.

It would then be followed by a sharp stab, where they would actually question their answer.

We all know that sharp stab.

One that is made to stop us in our tracks, put us back into place?

I am guilty of using the word should. I am pretty sure my memoir would be: “The woman who should herself.”

Seasons are not just reserved for a calendar year.

While today marks September 1, the beginning of spring, a moment to rebirth, a time to shake off the chills that have been haunting us.

I feel that we go through so many seasons of our life, and they remind us that we can do hard things and that beautiful things will find us.

It is funny how there are still those people in the world who believe kindness is a weakness.

The ones who take advantage of it.

Who believe they are entitled to kindness, despite never leading with or using it.

When you try to be someone with a kind heart, a considerate heart, a shared heart- your heart becomes a beating target.

The other F word.

Frustrated. Frustrating.

And no, I am not talking about “oh how you vex me,” kind of frustrated.

The feeling you get, when you keep showing up, trying to do your best and most of the time taking on a heavy load.

JSP is celebrating seven years today. I decided to pen seven lessons I have learned in that time.

It only seems like yesterday I decided to create JSP and now thanks to so many women in our community it continues to grow and thrive.

Thank you to all the women and collaborators who have helped tell the JSP story while sharing theirs.

“Let today be the day you give up who you’ve been for who you can become”- Hal Elrod.

As I read this quote, I thought easier said than done, right?

The path of self -discovery can be a tricky one. It is a path that is filled with signposts, detours, greenlights and wrong way go back signs, it has the ability to play tricks on even the most robust minds.

Dear gorgeous ones,

You are a bright and sparkly human.

Today is the day to use your energy for good, to create, heal, maybe even manifest.

We all can glow. Not everything is gloom.

How do we surface from all the chaos, opinions, doom, white noise, beliefs, he said, she said, news, of late, that many of us feel like we are drowning in?

Where is balance hiding? Where is the sacred ground of balance?

Aretha Franklin spelled it out for us.

R E S P E CT.

Mums and Dads told us they matter.

M A N N E R S.

Maroon 5 sang about how to get sugar.

“You sugar, yes P L E A SE.”

Alannis Morissette wrote about it

“T H A N K Y O U, thank you silence.”

Well, sorry Alannis, I can’t be silent any longer. While I appreciate the clarity silence can bring.

I have had enough.

I was raised that manners mattered. I was taught that they are the cornerstone of being a good, successful person. In short, they always matter. Period.

Can we continued to blame whether Mercury is rising or if a bad moon is rising for people’s flat out behaviour?

I have often spoken about whether it is real life or reel highlight, during some of my speaking engagements

And it something I need reminding of from time-to-time.

Like most people, when I am scrolling, I can find myself a bit like Alice falling down a rabbit hole.

Today amongst the chaos of the social media world and the world we live and breathe I wanted to silence some of the white noise.

I think it is a timely reminder that how we live and breathe as human beings, in essence comes back to kindness.

How we give it, use it, live by it and exchange it.

The end of an era. A wonderful era. Like many journalists I knew the day would come that news would no longer be printed, the hope in me thought maybe we had a few more years.

I worked at the Daily Mercury just shy of 10 years. When my Mum told me the news I shed a tear. It was this job that helped shape me into the person I am.

While I no longer work as a journalist I still have a passion for the profession, all it stands for and the commitment and hard work that goes into creating a paper every day.