Where are we now?

Many of us women are struggling in our relationships. We may need breathing room; the space to be ourselves; to feel love for ourselves; perhaps to find hope that our unions will last.

Some of us are clinging to complicated bonds, and others are solidifying broken ones. We face the fear of being alone, or of starting over again. Some Ladies fear change and some of us fear that we'll repeat the same dynamic.

We all know someone who has jumped ship to swim to an island for some alone time - and this strong woman will move towards better experiences. Sometimes it takes longer than we'd like to reach this decision....

Maybe some of us need to look, yet again, at the men in our lives...I've added some examples of good and bad interactions with your man:

Good - Your man is wonderful to you - he shows love and respect to, and of, you. He adds to the energy of the room, and he always has kind words for you. He's supportive in the ways that you require. His touch feels good. He holds himself accountable for his feelings and actions.

Bad - He's mean verbally/mentally/physically, and you question if you should stay. He sucks the energy out of a room, and cuts you down.

Please don't waste anymore of your precious time with a bad man.

If we want to attract the best possible relationships in our lives then we must respect, love, and enjoy ourselves. It's time for women to pick up their self-esteem/confidence and try it on again. It's time for us to hold our heads up and stare down the hurdles on our paths. Let us embrace newness, challenges, and opportunities.

Keep on keeping on

It's amazing to me, that after all of the years, and all of the accomplishments that we women have made, we can still move into low self-esteem at the drop of a hat. It's absolutely ridiculous that we can feel so small inside because of something someone else says. Why does this make us forget what we feel for ourselves? We spend our lifetime up to this day growing our view of ourselves, and with one thoughtless, or insecure, comment we forget our self-love.

How is it that the lack of shown love from a man can make us question our greatness? We're the same fabulous ladies we were before the so called men came around, so why would this change? Yes, sometimes we lose ourselves in a relationship, but there's no shame in that. At least, we love openly, and we gain knowledge about our weaknesses; when we're strong again we bring more to the next relationship. It's called learning, and there's no disgrace in that. Perhaps the dishonour should fall to the men who can't step up and look us in the eye (and they're such pretty eyes).

When we make decisions in our lives, big or small, we tend to look to others to run the idea(s) by. Sometimes we talk to people who will say what we want to hear. These people think that they're supporting us by just going along with what we say, but perhaps we need to hear their opinion.

Sometimes the "support systems" in our lives don't have our best interests at heart, but they think they do. What they're actually doing is projecting their ideas of who we are onto us. They give advice based on what they would do. I think that the real support comes from people who will be supportive regardless of the decisions - these people truly respect us, and the women we've become.

Ultimately, inside we do know what paths are best for us, and even though we may linger before stepping onto these paths [and people may question, "Does she have it all together?"], we need to trust ourselves.