I was being chauffeured home from a work meeting this afternoon and found the text below in the notes. I thought it would be good to share it, because it’s something that still resonates with me….
Bird power is something that I refer to in real life but struggle with explaining in my Online Life. I don’t know why. Perhaps its because I don’t want to appear like too much of a fruitbat? 😉  It’s not that I’m a huge femininst. Well, part of me is, but that’s another blog altogether. It’s the fact that I’m a bird – I can drive, jumpstart a car, can negotiate for the things I want and need for myself and my family. I can look after myself – I can be alone and have spent plenty of time alone. I’ve moved things and people and relationships on when I’ve needed to. I am working hard to make the most of the relationships that really mean something to me.
Hang on, I, I, I !!! This is all a bit self centred isn’t it? It’s hard though to explain it and attribute it to others because they may not want to be labelled as being a bird. But I will anyway. Here’s some of the smart women I know who have bird power…
There’s A – one of the smartest women I know. She’s not just clever. She’s uber clever. She’s a bird because she doesn’t lord it over everyone she meets. I think I’d be asking people complicated maths stuff, just because I could, if I were her! She’s a bear with a huge brain, using it for good – her family and the charity she works for, whilst juggling all of the household stuff as well.
Then there’s K. She didn’t want to be a stay at home mum full time, she wants to be a working mum with time off each week with her children. She’s a proper bird because she has worked out what she wants and how to make it happen for her family and get own benefit. It’s a juggle, but she’s doing it! Respect!!
Then there’s B – a strident femininst who proposed to her partner on FB and tells it like it is. She’s a top bird because she has the courage to voice her convictions and stand by them. And her grammar, whilst she’s doing it, is divine!!
But being a Bird is more than that. It’s paying it forward, seeing the opportunities in life to help others knowing that at some point someone or something will pay it forward to you in return. Someone who has written about this really well, is Elizabeth Wurtzel. Her book, The Bitch Rules, has been a really important book for me. It’s out of print at the moment which is nuts as it’s the best 5.00 I have ever spent. I bought it for lots of friends. Because it speaks the truth about being a bird. About travelling light. About making the most of your time alone, and making the most of your time with your family, about broadening your horizons. About not taking rubbish from other people (she doesn’t use the word rubbish, she uses a swear word, but I can’t because my mum sometimes reads my blog).
These are all bird like qualities. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not about being a fortress with no empathy or emotion for others – it’s the opposite of that.
In fact, being a bird meant I could tell a stranger on the tube today how much I liked their eyeshadow and that I’m practising that exact look.
And to me, that’s pretty cool 🙂
*Image credit to Alisdair
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