For me, I was finally able to fully release it after 14 years. And I know, without question, that part of why I never wanted to become a mother is because I could not bear the risk of watching my child suffer something I couldn't protect them from. But as an aunt, my heart now lives outside of me, with my nephews and my niece.

This is what has to change. Not eventually. Now. The information exists — we have the science, we have the research, we have the frameworks. What we lack is the courage to hand it to women early enough, freely enough, with enough warmth that it actually lands. Your hormones are not your enemy. They never were.

From the therapist who holds space for the parts of you nobody else has seen. From the friend who shows up at your door without being asked. From the community that makes you feel less alone in your own story. From the practitioner who looks at you, your whole self, your history, your body, your lineage, and says: I see you. All of you.

The dizziness will pass. And when it does, you'll look down and realize the foundation you were searching for? You were building it all along, one breath, one honest step at a time.

There's nothing wrong with knowing what you want. But there is something worth examining when that list becomes the reason you stop being curious about the person standing right in front of you.

But this moment. The one where the cage you didn't even realize you'd been living in, the one built from years of survival, of pushing through, of white-knuckling your way forward, finally swings open. And you just stand there. At the edge. Unsure whether to fly.