Well it has taken me 20 years, two mild depressions and one anxiety attack to come face to face with what I was : a woman.
Part of my struggle was not being able to make peace with myself. It was a feeling of being propelled in the world with no brief. Never had the chance to know about what womanhood meant or entailed. Not blaming our parents, they were lacking resources more than us. The traditional and common wisdom was lost after colonialization. Depleted of everything that could make up for the lack of a cultural awareness about women we embraced (in any case here in Morocco) the Western ideals.
Women as men's equals was taken literally. It still shocks me how any Moroccan employer I have been interviewed by found it natural to ask me about my family status and plans. At the end of the day you might as well blame it on the Zeitgeist : we are only workers not humans. But, my male friends and colleagues were not asked the same. It could be seen in the weird, and old fashioned very French (that no longer is used by the French themselves) : Madame ou Mademoiselle ?
The uneasiness that comes with this context certainly makes you ask questions in the best case scenario, second maybe hold a grudge against the employer and probably wishing you were born something else, anything except a woman ! I have heard many times said by my female friend's circle in the 21st century : some of us well-educated women would wish we were men just to have an easier smoother life ... (But only a few issues would be solved if that was the case anyway).
Falling out of tune with who we are, because we weren't initiated is admissible for only as long as it takes for us to be able to read a book and understand it. It is still possible even at 50 to go back and detangle the ideas, misconceptions that were fed to us as we were young. I'm all for equality and all but I'm also stressing the importance of really getting to know ourselves first: What makes us different and asking for that same equality ?
Enough of my rumblings !
This book, is a suggestion to discover the female nature and its special constitution from a traditional Chinese point of view. I marvel at how these have been conserved and feel at peace when reading references going back to Confucius, or Taoism. The wisdom of centuries is re-opened and made accessible to us through this text. Additionally, the writer is an MD by western standards but has inherited the Chinese wisdom of being a woman.
In this book I found helpful information about my health especially. I know now that most of the symptoms I suffer from are mostly for internal reasons : stress, anxiety, compassion, isolation, hypomania, ... And I stopped blaming it on hereditary conditions. It all goes back to untangling whatever luggage we have been carrying with us, surtout, the frustration that is born when you were born. You are welcomed heartily by your family perhaps but aware that you should be careful living among others : our society, that unknown, you are warned about !
This ambiguity and double signals might impact your well-being : mental, physical or spiritual. This was only an example of the extent to which the author goes to illustrate the roots of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine).
Needless to say, highly recommended book to everyone having questions about Chinese Medicine and femininity !
I will quote this book for another 6 months, thank you Dr. Zhao !