Prepare Your Daughters

I had a talk with a family friend recently who shared she was concerned I was dwelling on the past with my book. But the thing is, I think the past has so much to teach us. Growing up, I felt hideously unprepared for life.

I didn’t know women in my life had left toxic relationships until I was already deeply entangled in one myself. I didn’t know women in my life had gone through terminations until I’d been through my own.

Moving forward, I hope we can talk about this stuff. Tell our stories. Create space for questions.

The hesitation, for a lot of women I think, comes from not wanting to rehash the past for fear of re-creating it, or devaluing themselves in their daughter’s eyes. In my experience, it’s the opposite. It prepares her, and humanises you. She’s spared the burden of having to paint a picture with only the fragments of facts she can collect in whispered conversations and sideways glances, and she can map her own path with the wisdom of hindsight.

We’re bloody resourceful and resilient, women. What if we could use the wisdom of our collective past, to create a softer, more peaceful future?