Women Around the World Are in a Funk!

Dear Diana,

You have wondered for far too long while I waded around in the muck of my own inadequacy. Thankfully tonight I called my sister in Japan and our conversation snapped me out of my downward spiral. For the last few nights I have attempted to answer your thought provoking questions (A Soul Sister Wonders - Sept. 15). I have walked around for days thinking about half the house leaving, dogs dying, Prozac pending, role models missing etc.. I even categorized your topics as: feels / acts / thinks / wants / so my response would be comprehensive and thorough, yet, nothing I wrote was worth posting. This voice in my head kept saying..


"Who do you think you are Marilyn? You're walking around in a slump yourself, each day going through the motions and sinking down deeper. Who are you to give advice? Diana has laid it on the line and nothing you write comes close to that truth."


My sister, Gayle, shared that she too has been eager to offer words of comfort, struck by your descriptions of midlife angst and bewilderment. For fear of sounding too trite or superficial, she held back. Any attempt to be uplifting, she worried, might belittle the depth of your experience. The truth is, we're both as unsure as you Diana. Differences lie only in how we each deal with uncertainty. Gayle is a self proclaimed skimmer. She stays on the surface of things and keeps herself moving. You and I are divers. We go deep in our quest for understanding, no stones left unturned.

This blog is my attempt to sort it all out. From the sound of things, it may take awhile. For now, I feel strangely obligated to pass along the an article titled "Blue is the New Black" by Maureen Dowd. It was published today, 9/21/2009 in the New York Times. Just google those words to read it. My neighbor, Jordana, just delivered it to me, right in the middle of writing this post. I'm just going with the synergy. I think it offers general validation and maybe an historical backdrop for the thoughts you so bravely shared. Thank you for your voice and effort in building a community of soul sisters. Here is an excerpt from the article:

As Arianna Huffington points out in a blog post headlined "The Sad, Shocking Truth About How Women Are Feeling": "It doesn't matter what their marital status is, how much money they make, whether or not they have children, their ethnic background, or the country they live in. Women around the world are in a funk."

How were we to know? The village is larger than we think.