The power of a question

“My secret dream (one that is almost too exciting to do) is…” read the question on the intake form.

“Travel a lot and work out of Airbnbs” I started.

I continued, haltingly…

“I am tempted to say — NOT have kids!”

The answer surprised me, and it changed the course of my life.

One question, asked at the perfect time, by a woman who’d helped me feel safe enough to answer with the truth.

A truth that, when asked about, bubbled right up from within.

From within. Where my secret dreams lived.

Versus from without, where all of the other messages about childbearing had originated. The messages had been so clear and ubiquitous that I’d lost track of where they’d come from. The voices from without had started to sound like my own.

But the truth, that was clear. It came from within.

Can we make space to ask women what they really want?

And allow them to speak their truths, no matter what they are?

Do we trust adult women to know what they want? Or what they don’t want?

Enough about me. Your turn! Your answer might not be as life-shattering as mine. But maybe write this down, and see what happens. Maybe come back to it later.

I think it’s a sentence we all deserve to finish for ourselves.

My secret dream (one that is almost too exciting to do) is…