Embrace the Feminine to End Burnout, Chronic Stress, and Dis-ease
The past few years have rocked our world.
And maybe, in many ways, it needed to be.
Our tired, sick, and stressed out bodies are trying to get our attention.
We have a cultural and societal acceptance of stress and busyness and overwhelm. And while there are certainly periods of life that are more stressful than others - raising young kids, transitions, grief and loss, among others - a constant state of stress and overwhelm is not normal.
And I believe that even in times of global strife (pandemics for example), as the tide shifts with this awareness of the need for boundaries and harmonized energies, and the more that we reject the stress and busyness culture, the more prepared we will be as a society with tools at the systemic and societal level to manage the overwhelm, burnout, and stress.
Where to start?
It starts with us. By rejecting the normalization of burnout, stress, and overwhelm, and embracing a new more supportive and easier way we can bring about the more balanced, supportive, and compassionate world our bodies and minds crave.
How’d we get here?
Before we get into the how-to’s, let’s take a step back and examine how we got here in the first place.
Since the industrial revolution - and in many places, before that - the masculine qualities of productivity, hustle, success, achievement, independence, and assertiveness have guided our daily lives and since become the dominant energy by which most of us navigate our personal and professional lives.
I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with ‘masculine’ qualities and ‘masculine’ energy. In fact, I think we’re on the precipice of a new paradigm where these seemingly opposite energy centers are calling for a reharmonizing.
“Moving out of patriarchy is not about the feminine ruling over the masculine, rather a more balanced state of being where we embrace the authenticity of who we are and realize that we are all connected, part of a larger whole. The rising feminine can be found in both men and women...I am speaking to the compassionate, protective, intuitive, and conscious feminine that is rapidly awakening and inviting that part of us to rise up.”
The terms ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ energy, in this conversation, are not gendered. They are possessed by all, no matter your identification, and there is space for them all.
We need productivity and industriousness to feel fulfilled.
We need connection and creativity to inspire our hearts and minds.
This is not a conversation of exclusion - just the opposite. It’s time to embrace it all. For everyone. To harmonize our many energies and recalibrate for a healthier, happier future.
As a society, we have come to value the masculine qualities disproportionate to how much we value feminine qualities - and at the expense of our mental and physical health.
Neither one is ‘better’ or more preferred. It’s the imbalance that poses an issue.
A New Paradigm
“With the planet in the state that it is, we cannot continue the way we have been. Mother Earth is calling for a new awakening of consciousness in order for us to survive on this magnificent planet we call home. A shift from aggression to compassion, from fact to truth, from fear to love, from separateness to oneness...we each have a light within us waiting to guide us home. ”
Pandemic aside (because we were suffering long before COVID-19), modern society has been screaming for a shift for decades.
With the rise of technology came the burden of continued productivity with seemingly no limit. Which has led to a workplace culture that rewards overwork, stress, and burnout.
And this comes at great cost to our physical and mental health.
The burnout, stress, and overwhelm has led to chronic health issues, adrenal fatigue, and stress-related lifestyle conditions, to only name a few because the list is long.
We’ve also become disconnected - from each other and ourselves.
We’ve lost touch with nature, with our compassion and loving souls, with our food, with our own feelings, with networks of support and community.
We spend more time at work - in jobs possibly unenjoyed or downright miserable. We spend less time with people we love and doing things we enjoy.
We’ve lost so much by tipping the scales so far in one direction.
But we can get it back.
The remedy is simple: embrace the feminine.
Bring renewed focus to the feminine qualities of creativity, support, wisdom, intuition, gathering, rest, flow, compassion, cooperation, expansiveness, sensitivity, warmth, service, and understanding.
Only by re-balancing the feminine and masculine energies can we begin to address the root cause of our burnout and chronic disease ridden society.
Only then can we begin to embrace a new way of being that incorporates achievements with celebration. That values success and rest. That recognizes our great need to not only recover from what we’ve been through and heal our wounds, but sees a path forward where we’re all prospering, healthy, fulfilled, and happy.