ReMindEd   •   August 26, 2017

I want to continue my writings about Wonder Woman. I have mentioned her, and the concept of her in the last few blog posts I have published, but thought I would dedicate an entire blog to this idea.

Wonder women wondering…

I was so thrilled when I watched the recently released Wonder Woman movie. I was worried initially as it could have gone a number of different ways in terms of ‘the moral of the story’, the depiction of Diana herself, and the underlying message about   women and their worth. I was relieved in seeing the movie, that it celebrated womanhood, showed us as strong yet not aggressive, and had a clear message about love.

As I watched the warrior training scenes, the concept of an all-woman army, presented as strong, capable, fit women, training their entire lives for a battle they heard rumours through generations was coming, I was awakened. I wanted to be a warrior woman! Not for the idea of not needing a man, or men in general, but as a stirring of the more I am capable of.

What is the more you are capable of?

I always watch fighting scenes in movies and long to be fitter, stronger, more able to defend myself and those I love if needed. Which highlights to me my realisation that I see myself as currently unable, inept, maybe even weak. At least physically. Or am I…?

Last weekend the Sunshine Coast Marathon was held. I am a runner- it’s about the only form of exercise I have regularly done for years now and my absolute favourite thing to do for my own mental health and self care. I wear a running singlet with the words: “I run for me”. Because I do. It’s for me, with only me, because I love it. As a busy mum of four, who has always worked outside the home as well, I found running as my outlet but also the most effective form of exercise for my whole body that did the most in the least amount of time. I never had aspirations of doing anything else with it. I didn’t ever set myself goals as I didn’t want to taint my love for it by adding pressure. I had nothing to prove, to anyone. I run for me.

Except the last few weeks, I felt like pushing myself. I had no preparation, no goal in mind. I just was out running and decided to run further that day, to a cafe my husband and I frequent.

I just decided. 

I decided. On the day. In the moment. Go further. So I did. I ran one hour and a half straight, no stopping, no walking, no slowing. Same pace as always, just half an hour further. So the next time I ran, I did it again. Just because I wanted to. Same pace, same time, same place.

I then wondered how much longer I could go. I did the hour and a half quite well. So the next time I ran I decided to touch the cliff face at the end of that long stretch of beach, just because I decided I could. I had never tried to before, never wanted to. But that day I did. And once I’d touched that cliff, I looked at my Runkeeper time and it was ten kilometres. In that moment I decided, why run twenty when I could go the extra one and a bit and do my half marathon. So I did. 

It all started with wondering how far could I run today?!

Wondering. In that moment, I was Wonder Woman. Firstly because I wondered what I could do, secondly because I did it and in doing it, it was wonderful! I answered my question: I wonder if I could…? And I answered my question: Yes I can. 

I didn’t run the public race, I have no medal to show for my efforts that day. I don’t need one.

I run for me.

And I realised I am stronger than I think. 

Which race are you running? What are you doing it for? What else are you wondering you could do?

What’s your race? Is it being a mum, a wife, a business woman, an entrepreneur, a sister, a daughter, a girlfriend, the healthiest version of you, working towards wellness and freedom, finding who you are, making your life count for something wonderful? For me, it’s all of those.

Why are you doing it? Because you have to as it’s the season you’re in, or because you choose to? Whether we choose the season we are in or not, we choose our response to it now we are here. 

You have a choice how you respond

Diana didn’t choose the battle to find her. In fact, she was protected from it, and yet it found her anyway. It found all her warrior sisters. They fought for themselves, to save their island. They won. They could have left it there. In fact, all of the other warriors chose to stay. Diana chose not to. She chose to fight the injustice in a world that was not hers, as she believed she could, so she did. That was her first step into becoming Wonder Woman. She wondered what she could do, and decided to do it. 

What is in your heart? What do you Wonder you could do? What is the more that calls your name? It’s your choice to answer or not.

Will you let your own fears, self-doubt, feelings of inadequacy, weaknesses, or even previous experience dictate your future? Or will you choose regardless?

You can always choose. Again. 

This is my daughter. She just received a reading excellence award for most improved reading. She’s not the best reader in her class, she’s not in the highest level, she often gets stuck on a word still. But once upon a time, not so long ago, she was filled with fear when she even thought about reading. She had developed a self belief that she was not good at reading, that it was hard, that it was too hard for her. She resisted reading. At the first sign of getting stuck on a word, she’d cry and run away. She’d give up.

I didn’t push her. I didn’t add pressure to her. I kept encouraging her that if she decided to try, it would get easier. If she dared to challenge her self doubt, if she decided she wanted to, if she wondered whether she could do it, she could. It took a long time, but one day, she ran in to me and said:

“Mummy I can read this book!” The look on her face, the light in her eyes; truth. She broke the lie that day. She wrote a new truth. She decided she could do it.

What do you wonder you could do if you decided to try?

It starts with wondering. It actually begins with deciding to do it.

Be Wonder Woman. Be her. You are her. She is within you. It takes a decision. It causes an action. You’ll need to leave your comfort. Face a battle. Fight for freedom.

Apologies for the b* word, which I never use because of the devaluing women connotation it carries. (That goes for all slang or swear words or phrases that devalue women- I never use them because I choose not to perpetuate underlying meanings that are negative!) Aside from that word, I love this quote.

Run the hill anyway. Change yourself not the hill. Your view of the hill will change as a result of who you are after you run it regardless.

It’s so easy to focus on the hill, the issue, the enormity of the task or the battle. Fight anyway. Fight for the Wonder woman within you.

Which brings us to love. The only thing worth fighting for, as I say in my previous blog and vlog from last week: www.reminded.com.au/blog/for-love-with-love

At the end of the movie, Diana says the following:

“I used to want to save the world. To end war and bring peace to mankind. But then, I glimpsed the darkness that lives within their light. I learned that inside every one of them, there will always be both. The choice each must make for themselves – something no hero will ever defeat. I’ve touched the darkness that lives in between the light. Seen the worst of this world, and the best. Seen the terrible things men do to each other in the name of hatred, and the lengths they’ll go to for love. Now I know. Only love can save this world. So I stay. I fight, and I give… for the world I know can be. This is my mission, now. Forever.

Only love can save this world. Only love is worth fighting for. And the only way to fight is with love.

Here’s to wonder women wondering: Wonder what you can do, then choose to do it. You are Wonder Woman!

Sal xx