Like a Whisper

What the Zibby Retreat (and the Oscars!) Taught Me About the Power of Women

I can’t stop thinking about the vibrancy of last weekend’s “Fierce Women” Zibby Retreat and how deeply restorative it was to be around so many women.

It wasn’t just the yoga — twice! — which was awesome. But being around a group of supportive, kind, smart, interesting women with non-stop conversation and connection.

Many of the women were authors or aspiring authors. Several of THEIR works are now here, introducing themselves to the other books in my office.

My Canoe Place mug is filled with my morning coffee for effect.

Last night at the Oscars when accepting her Best Actress trophy, Michelle Yeoh said, “Ladies, never let anyone tell you you’re past your prime.” (Or something like that.) I could hear and feel women cheering around the world as I beamed.

I’m 46. I watched the Academy Awards with a friend/colleague who is in her early 20s. And yet we both felt the shiver of that idea.

At yoga on Saturday, an old Tracy Chapman song came on. And I was literally laying there crying with emotion (hiding it, per usual) at the power of ALL of it, how I’d played some role in bringing the room of 100 women together, how amazing it felt to be a small part of a big group. And the lyrics just spoke to me.

“Don’t you know, talkin’ ‘bout a revolution sounds… like a whisper.”

That whisper was on center stage last night. And I am here for it. What if… women REALLY connected and worked their communicative, emotional superpowers to change what life is like, not politically — emotionally. What would it look like to have no female competition, only collaboration?

Just imagine what we could do — and how happy we all could be. (My What If moment, Alisha Fernandez Miranda.)

I’m on it.

Like a whisper.