Why Being a Good Girl Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be: Part Two

So, are you always a Good Girl?

Tired of that yet?

Being a good girl, year after year, decade after decade, will very likely land you at your doctor’s office or with a therapist sooner or later.

That is, unless you find a way to balance it out, spice it up, shake it off every now and then.

(Not that landing with a therapist is a BAD thing. Just the opposite, in fact! :) )

Good Girls tend to show up at my place with fibromyalgia, lupus, chronic fatigue syndrome. Sometimes they come bewildered by panic attacks that strike out of the blue, a sudden fear of leaving the house, or a deep depression that sucks any joy out of living. Sometimes they’re fighting an addiction. They are ashamed. They wonder what’s wrong with them because they’ve always been able to handle things before. They feel like failures – though they are anything but.

It takes Courage for them to come.

And I am always so proud of those women. As we begin our healing work together, I listen to their stories, learn about their families, invite their dreams. Their stories are often familiar, full of self-sacrifice (though they rarely see it that way), enormous patience, long suffering, determination, fierce resolve to get through one difficulty after another. And piled on top of a lifetime of service and suffering: an AMAZING degree of self criticism. It takes my breath away sometimes to hear the terrible things women will say, about themselves.

So that’s what being a Good Girl will get you: depressed, anxious, sick.

Worn out.

Personally, I don’t recommend it. Sure, some of those expectations are fine and can carry you a long way.  But at the very least, I invite you to consider the possibility that a little Healthy Rebellion every now and then might be good for the body.

Good for the soul.

 As we work our way from Courage to Confidence, we’re going to explore the idea of Healthy Rebellion. It’ll be fun. You’ll see!

 So what do you think?

Have you seen worn out women in your own lives?

Ever felt that way yourself?

What did you do about it?

Let me know in the comments below.

 

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Photo Credit: by kate hisock, slightly everything

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