I recently twisted my ankle quite severely and though I’m lucky to do much of my work at home, I do have to leave from time to time for face-to-face meetings and travel further than my couch or kitchen. I can’t drive, can’t haul my gear, can’t move very quickly, and have to really watch my balance. It’s my dominant side, my strong right leg and I didn’t realize how much I relied on that foot until I was operating mostly from my left side. I think my left is a little weaker and so it’s getting a real workout, using my hips and thighs in a very different way, the left now carrying the load for the right, but at a disadvantage. It feels like a metaphor for the world right now – the right dominant masculine is weakening and stalling and the feminine is getting a chance to rise up and be strengthened.
As I considered this more fully, I noticed that I think of the left or feminine (still, sometimes) as the soft things, the kind things, the passive or gentle things, like rest, self-care, relationship building and joy and I recognize that sometimes, like many of us, I sacrifice these things to the more masculine, active things like work. I was talking with a client this week and through our conversation, she and I noticed that she viewed self-care as a separate thing from her life – it’s not integrated and often falls by the wayside as work ramps up. Her left, soft self-care side is sacrificed and allowed to remain weaker than her right, active work side. Without the balance between the two, her capacity is greatly diminished and unsustainable.
Today I’m considering how much easier it is to exist with both legs functioning well, with my weight balanced between the two. Now that I’m aware, I’m going to work harder to strengthen my left so it’s a closer match for my right, in more ways than one. I invite you to take a step back from your right side active and see where you might need a little bolstering on the left, too.