Whenever I face challenges, or hard times, or stressful situations, I often turn to music to restore, soothe and lift me up again. The song I listen to the most, especially when I feel literally trampled on, is Helen Reddy’s “I am Woman” https://youtu.be/NUvmPfgVTGQ
It is a song which not only energises me but also heals and motivates me to greater strength. As I listen to the lyrics, “I am woman, hear me roar in numbers too big to ignore,” I remember I am one small part of a much larger whole, most of whom are supportive and understanding and sympathetic. Some of us are lucky enough to cruise through life easily, a large percentage of us struggle to survive for whatever reason. Most of us have had at least one hurdle to jump in life. “Yes, I am wise, but its wisdom born of pain,” and so many of us know that pain, have lived through that pain and are still coping with that pain.
We only have to look at history to remind us of those women who fought for their beliefs to make this world a better place for us. The suffragettes for example. Without them women would not have been given the right to vote in so many countries around the world. Right now, women are making history changing their world for the better and giving so many other women hope and courage.
I was twelve when Reddy’s I am Woman was released. I have always listened to lyrics rather than music and it was her lyrics which caught my attention and stayed with me over so many years and through several troubled times. I’ve sung it loudly while striding the streets, or scrubbing floors, and I’ve sung it softly to myself in dark corners.
But songs, even those which are uplifting, can only bring one so far out of any hole. Actions will always trump words, and my actions – our actions – as women in this world go a long way to showing how strong we are, how capable we are and how determined we are to continue to rise in the face of challenging times. There truly is power in numbers. Especially in times of uncertainty and unrest, if we stick together, if we hold each other up and stand by each other – no matter our colour, religion, or ethnicity – we really “can do anything.”
