At 40, I discovered that everything I had learned about womanhood was a lie.
In girlhood, I carried these truths like a lunchbox:
Good women don’t rage.
Good women must sacrifice.
Good women must get married to feel complete.
I started writing my first essay collection because I had seen these same lies capture the women around me. I saw it in their hunched shoulders, swollen eyes, and plastered smiles.
A gentle warning: run and save yourself.
I slowly began the process of unlearning, unraveling truths like a mad scientist trying to crack a code.
The more I wrote, the more I interrupted moments of performance.
I’m starting the Womanhood Diaries, a series of short reflections from the middle of that process, a roadmap back to yourself.
I invite women on a similar journey to join me or begin their own process of unlearning.
A version of this essay was previously published on Medium
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