I was listening to a podcast interview with Glennon Doyle as the guest. She talked about a concept called “sistering,” being the best part of life. I loved the metaphor she described and wanted to share it with you.
Here’s what she said –
“Carpenters know that the building block of a structure is the joist. A joist is a special, strong beam that supports a greater structure. Sometimes a joist has to carry such a heavy load that it starts to weaken.
When that happens, the carpenter connects another board to the left of the weakening board.
If that doesn’t strengthen it enough, she connects another board to the right, and with that extra support, the joist is strong enough to carry almost anything.
Guess what this process of joist strengthening is called? SISTERING!
You can’t build a strong, beautiful, complicated structure – whether it’s a building or a life – without SISTERING.
Women are special, strong people who hold up the world but sometimes life’s load gets too hard and heavy for them to carry it alone.
But if we never ask for help because we can’t carry the load anymore, we would miss out on the best part of life, which is sistering and being sistered.
If everything feels too heavy right now, it might mean that you need a sister to your left and a sister to your right to help steady you and strengthen you and hold you together.
It might be time to find your sister joists or to be a sister joist.”
Does this metaphor resonate with you? Can you relate to the feeling of not asking for help – for feeling like the load you are carrying is too heavy?
I can recall times when I didn’t reach out to my sister-friends for support. Looking back, those were the times when things felt heavy and I didn’t want to burden or admit that I needed help. I did a good job at making pretend that everything was okay. That I was “handling” my life and responsibilities. Although on the inside I was longing for help, for connection to other women.
I now know how important and beneficial it is to reach out to friends. How it does help me lighten my load. Many times just being able to share how I am feeling with a sister-friend is all I need.
Interestingly enough, when I could open up and reach out for help, even more, amazing women showed up in my life. Women that I feel like we could lean on each other, talk to each other about anything, and feel safe with one another. There’s no competition, comparison, drama, judgment, pettiness, etc. We are “sister joints” for each other.
I believe this has been a huge part of my healing path. Women are powerful and when we come together we can harness that power to heal ourselves, each other, and the collective. Take a moment to think about the women in your life. Have you lost touch with them? Have you been too busy to connect? Do you need to bring more amazing women into your life?
I encourage you to find the women in your life.
“When a woman finally learns that pleasing the world is impossible, she becomes free to learn how to please herself.” Glennon Doyle