"It's time."
These are two words I have heard at various points in my life since I made the decision to listen and acknowledge the spiritual gifts of who I am. I often heeded them... I also didn't, especially when I didn't actually know what to do. It was still time—and "what to do" was often answered simply as: "Show up" or "Keep going."
– "It's time" is a call to action through presence.
– "It's time" is a statement of empowerment, not permission. Time doesn't need permission, and right timing has never needed permission.
– "It's time" is an acknowledgment of something much deeper and much greater than we may know at the time, and still nodding and saying "Yes," anyway.
Today, it's time.
It's time to reclaim, re-engage, and re-invest. It's time to support other women, without judgment, fear, or agenda. It's time. Time to be counted as a whole person, not 85% of one, or where your ovaries have more value than the rest of your body.
It's time.
What does that look like? There is no one answer, just as there is no "one" female. Women take as many forms as are infinitely possible. What "it's time" looks like for you may be different than what it looks like for all the other women in the world. I understand that those women who feel that today is a victory are victims of the same oppressive system having been convinced to support it from the inside, as if they are somehow not victims themselves. Theirs is ultimately a much heavier burden to bear, which they can only carry in willful ignorance and blindness. I forgive them anyway.
It's time.
It's time to leapfrog forward. Thus far, we have been trying to make gains in inches, playing along with the existing system, asking for crumbs at the edge of the table, in order to not be branded or banished. We have deliberately played small and diminutive in order to protect ourselves. And still, we get hurt. Still, we get killed. Still, we get damaged. Playing small and trying to work within the system (a system that wasn't set up for us to succeed), has not protected us. The outcome we desired has not been realized, through playing by the rules. So, it's time. It's time to make new rules, establish new systems, and instead of working with inches, take miles. It's time to leapfrog forward. Catapult ourselves into counting and being counted. Collectively, we harness more purchasing power than any other group. In this country that reveres consumption, we can make change in a different way. A new way. A way that will not be ignored, and in a way that does not have to abide by rules that were never meant to support us.
It's time.
