What Happens When a Woman Has Been Strong for Too Long? Women-and-psilocybin-ceremony
Stillness & Inner Work
a personal story
What Happens When a Woman Has Been Strong for Too Long?
I think about my mother when I think about this question.
She raised five children almost by herself.
She was a nurse. She worked with children with disabilities.
And she worked incredibly hard.
Sometimes 70-hour weeks.
There were moments when she would come home from work, sleep for an hour, and then get up and go back again.
She gave everything she had to her family.
To her work.
To the people who depended on her.
And like so many women of her generation, she learned to put her own needs somewhere in the background.
She didn't have the luxury of asking:
“What do I need?”
There was always something else that needed to be done.
Someone else who needed her.
Another responsibility.
Another day to get through.
And I don't tell you this because I think my mother was doing something wrong.
Quite the opposite.
Her strength, devotion and capacity to keep going are things I deeply admire.
But watching her taught me something I've carried with me ever since:
Sometimes the things that make us strong can also become the things that make it difficult to hear ourselves.
My Mom and Dad in the early 90s - Uganda
It can look like being the person everyone calls when something goes wrong.
It can look like knowing what everyone else needs before they even ask.
It can look like saying:
“I'm fine.”
“I'll handle it.”
“Don't worry about me.”
It can look like being incredibly capable while having very little space to simply feel.
It can look like always doing something.
Working.
Caring.
Planning.
Organising.
Helping.
Giving.
And then, one day, you realise you've become very good at being there for everyone...
but you're not quite sure when you last stopped to ask yourself what you needed.
The Microcosm of Over-Giving
This is what interests me.
The big moments in our lives are easy to notice.
Burnout.
A breakdown.
A major life change.
A relationship ending.
But disconnection often happens much earlier, in tiny moments.
The moment you ignore the tiredness because someone else needs you.
The moment you swallow what you really want to say.
The moment you say yes when your whole body is saying no.
The moment you override your intuition because being practical feels safer.
The moment you keep moving because stopping might mean finally feeling what you've been carrying.
None of these moments seem particularly significant on their own.
But they accumulate.
Little by little.
Until the distance between the life you're living and the life you feel inside becomes harder to ignore.
When Did You Last Really Listen?
Not to your thoughts.
Not to your responsibilities.
Not to what everyone else expects from you.
But to yourself.
Your body.
Your intuition.
Your deeper knowing.
There is a kind of wisdom that doesn't come from thinking harder.
It comes through sensation.
Through emotion.
Through stillness.
Through the subtle signals we often learn to override.
And I believe many women are carrying an extraordinary amount of wisdom beneath everything they've learned to manage.
The question is:
Do you have enough space to hear it?
Perhaps You Don't Need to Become Someone New
Maybe you've already spent enough time trying to improve yourself.
Trying to be better.
More productive.
More successful.
More patient.
More present.
More everything.
Maybe what is needed isn't another thing to achieve.
Maybe it's space.
Space to slow down.
Space to feel.
Space to listen.
Space to step outside the roles you carry every day and remember who you are underneath them.
This is one of the reasons women are drawn to ceremony.
Not because they are broken.
Not because they need to be fixed.
But because something inside them is asking for a different kind of attention.
During one ceremony, I saw my mother.
Not simply as my mother.
I saw the weight she had carried throughout her life.
I saw the woman who had raised five children, worked endless hours, cared for others and kept going even when she was exhausted.
But I saw something else too.
I saw her as the portal through which I entered this world.
The person who carried me before I ever knew what life was.
And something inside me shifted.
For years, I had carried my own version of the story.
''You did this''.
''You didn't do that''.
''You should have said this''.
''You should have been different''.
The familiar story of everything we wish our parents had done differently.
But in that moment, the story softened.
The anger didn't need to be fought.
It simply changed.
What came through was gratitude.
Gratitude for the woman who carried me.
Gratitude for everything she had given.
Gratitude for the life that had been passed from her to me.
And I realised something:
Sometimes we don't need to change the past.
A Different Way of Listening
A ceremony can create a temporary space away from the usual structures of everyday life.
A space where you don't have to perform.
Where you don't have to take care of anyone else.
Where you can become curious about your inner world.
For some people, psilocybin can change the way familiar thoughts, emotions and patterns are experienced, offering a different perspective on parts of themselves that can be difficult to see from inside everyday life.
The experience is deeply personal.
There is nothing you need to force.
Nothing you need to achieve.
Nothing you need to prove.
Instead, there is an invitation:
What happens when you finally create enough space to listen?
For the Woman Who Has Been Carrying a Lot
Maybe you're the strong one.
The one people rely on.
Maybe you've spent years taking care of everyone else.
Maybe you're successful on the outside but feel a quiet longing for something deeper.
Maybe you're spiritual.
Maybe you're searching for purpose.
Maybe you want to feel more connected to your body, your intuition, your emotions, your life.
Or maybe you can't quite explain what you're looking for.
You just know there's something more.
I've come to believe that this curiosity is worth listening to.
Join Me for a 1-Day Ceremony Journey - women-and-psilocybin-ceremony
I've created a one-day experience for women who feel called to explore this territory more deeply.
A day to step away from the noise.
To slow down.
To reconnect with yourself.
As part of the experience, you'll be introduced to Bobinsana, an Amazonian plant traditionally connected with the heart, emotional awareness and relationship with the natural world.
You'll take this plant with you after the ceremony as a companion for your integration an invitation to continue listening, reflecting and staying connected to the work you've begun.
Not as something that needs to fix or change you.
But as a gentle reminder to keep making space for yourself.
To return to your intention.
To cultivate harmony between what you experienced and how you choose to live.
Because what matters isn't simply what happens during one day.
It's what you choose to do with what you discover afterwards.
Questions? You can schedule a free call with me on the button below
women-and-psilocybin-ceremony
