What If Women?

What if, as women, we never had to battle misogyny? What if we didn’t need to give a thought to our safety walking down the street? What if we didn’t know of societal beauty standards or hold in our bones, the long held patriarchal notion that we are supposed to look, dress, and act a certain way? What if we never learned to hold our voices inside? What an infusion of strength that would bring to young women rising into their independent lives? What would it mean to women who hold the belief that they must futilely battle the inevitable physical impacts of their aging faces? How much time and energy would that free up for countless women of all ages? How much of an energetic infusion would that offer humanity in bringing the strength. beauty & serenity of the feminine (Yin) perspective to the planet? How much would that help to heal, through the infinite feminine wisdom, our ailing humanity?

I wonder.

What if?

Tricia

Roadmap by Mario Benedetti

I found it in my pocket / it was a roadmap
I knew not where it led
but I followed it anyway in aimless wanderlust
with all my nostalgias in hand

it was an atlas of the soul / of consciousness
of what I have committed and what awaits me
on the ground I saw footprints that were my own
and so it was a path already trodden

the vastness of before had vanished
everything was stronger, surer
suddenly I landed on the riverbank
the river that had always been my longing

only then did I heed my own advice
I tucked the path into my pocket once more
and there it remained, awaiting
another tomorrow

Olivia Gatwood & Megan Falley- Collapse the Economy

One of the most powerful performances
I have witnessed in any artistic context.
And it comes from 2 fearless young women
using their powerful voices & poetic prowess
to call out patriarchal bullshit.

Pretty by Katie Makkai

Nothing I love more than strong young women using their voices
to call out patriarchal bullshit.

I'm With Her- Send My Love

Morning by Pablo Neruda (excerpt)

Art Source KM Schmidt

You will remember that whimsical ravine
where the vibrant aromas rose,
and from time to time a bird dressed
in water and languor: winter’s garment.

You will remember those gifts from the earth:
piquing fragrance, gold clay,
thickets of herbs, wild roots,
bewitching thorns like swords.

You will remember the bouquet you brought,
a bouquet of shadow and silent water,
a bouquet like foam-covered stone.

And that time was like never and always:
We go where nothing is expected
and find everything waiting there.

Elizabeth Gilbert on the Knowing Thyself Podcast

This video changed me. Gilbert’s revealing, with such raw truth and insight, of healing herself and letting go of the need to “do” is liberating. She blatantly, yet gently, owns her shit. For much of my life I have been saddled with both real and phantom expectations, both familial and societal— I haven’t done enough, I didn’t work hard enough, I should have done it differently, I should have millions in my bank account. For decades shame weighed me down, causing me both physical restriction and emotional anxiety. They held me back from a healthy mind and a gentle, loving self image.

Gilbert speaks with such ease about her own self sabotage and the subsequent reckoning that it freed up pieces of me that were still clinging to that paradigm of “shoulds”. Her voice is clear and undemanding and her understanding of her own healing process profound.


Good health serves me now (for the time being!) as I move on with the continual unfolding realization that so much of what I held closely for decades was complete bullshit. And it took up soooo much space! I now navigate my dwindling years seeking balance, self love and contentment while my self care practices keep me in the moment, in the honesty and in the love.

I thank Elizabeth Gilbert for her raw truth and for reminding me that I am right here, right now and that’s enough.

Tricia

Breathing Deep Through & Through

I speak to you
You with hate in your hearts
Do you remember kindness?
Or were you this way from the start?

Your naiveté is
Thick and dense
Hard to cut through
Even with the best offense

I struggle with my words
For fear of acting like you
I assuage my frustration
Breathing deep through and through

So what do I do?
How do I stand?
When our collective fate
Seems to lie in your hands?

The answer is clear
It’s- from within- lit
It directs me
”Love one another
And take no shit.”

Tricia Schwaba 12/2026

Remarkable Art From Leftovers & Scraps