I have been a thousand different women

In midlife, many of us find ourselves standing at the crossroads of who we were and who we are becoming. We’ve lived so many lives within one lifetime—each chapter, each version of ourselves, an integral part of the woman we are today. As we face change, whether through menopause, shifting relationships, or personal reinvention, we may find it hard to reconcile all the women we’ve been.

But in order to move forward, we must first honor the past.

As poet Emory Hall beautifully writes:

I Have Been a Thousand Different Women

Make peace
with all the women
you once were.

lay flowers
at their feet.

offer them incense
and honey
and forgiveness.

honor them
and give them
your silence.

listen.

bless them
and let them be.

for they are the bones
of the temple
you sit in now.

for they are
the rivers
of wisdom
leading you toward
the sea.

— Emory Hall