(Wo)Mancave Contest | What makes you feel like a woman?

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A woman entering the Mancave contest

When I read the @brofund newspaper and saw there was a contest from the mancave, it didn't catch my attention right away, even though @raymondspeaks has made it perfectly clear many times that women are welcomed in the mancave as well. I assumed the contest would be focused on men related topics, but luckily for me, this was a wrong assumption. Although I'm late with my entry, I couldn't miss this one.

What makes me feel like a woman?

I can't give one clear answer here, as this is a combination of several things and can differ from time to time. A few years ago, I would have probably answered the obvious that have to do with appearance. Although these still count, for sure, I have to acknowledge that these things are only adding to the feeling, but not the main reason to feel like a woman.

So what makes me feel like a woman then?

Instead of appearance being the main reason to feel like a woman, today I can say that this has changed to a powerful feeling within myself. The feeling that ideas and projects are now unfolding to be reality, without feeling stuck after a short time is something that makes me feel great. I feel empowered by myself and the fact that I've managed to work on my mental health by myself.

If I'm truly honest, feeling depressed, angry, overflowing with all kinds of emotions are pushing me towards getting stuck, and push projects to the background until I "feel them again" and find my focus again. Although I love having so many interests and ideas to work on, it's also quite a partypooper when none of them reach a point of being finished for let's say within a year's time. And that's enough to trigger another state of depression, especially when winter has arrived too.

Source

The true feeling of feeling like a women, for me, comes from withing, the struggles I've overcome in the years that have passed, the new life I've built (with my partner by my side!) and not giving up on havin ga vision for the future is the most powerful feeling in the world. I'm not where I want to be yet, but looking back on the progress I've made only this year, I'm freaking proud of myself!

Appearance does matter, for sure!

But, I can't disregard appearance completely answering this question. I don't value hair, nails and make-up as much anymore as I did in the past, but they can still add greately to feeling like a strong powerful woman. And when I feel this inside, you will see it on the outside as well. If you ask me, beauty comes from within and if a woman feels good inside, she will radiate that feeling and that's making me feel like a woman for sure.

Nails

I always had ugly nails, and when I started learning about acrylic nails, I started to notice how great I felt having these beautiful nails. I also noticed that I suddenly take care of them a lot better compared to when I don't have them. It's been years since I got a set of these, but writing this, it may change soon.

Haircut

I think a haircut makes every woman happy. The pampering in the chair is something I've always enjoyed and walking out of a hair salon, it's always a great feeling. Even if my hair was only 2 cm shorter in length, it always feels nice and fresh whenever the hair is cut. I think this counts for most men and women.

Make up and eye lash extension

Although in my teens I was more interested in putting on make up, but that usually only meant eyeshadow and mascara. I never felt like adding tons of layers of make up on my face, but puttin on eye make up really made me feel so much better. Today, I honestly only do this when I go somewhere or when I just had a new haircut. Oh well, it's the age, lol.

Eye lash extension is something I've only done once as my eye lashes aren't as great and full anymore now I'm getting a bit older. I tried getting the extensions once and although I liked the look of it, it's quite a bit of work to maintain, so not something I'm willing to get done constantly. I have to admit that I felt awesome seeing these full eye lashes again like I had in my younger years.

The color red

Last, one thing that can be done by wearing clothes in that color or adding red lipstick.. The color red is one that has to be added to this list. Colors can be such a powerful statement, even though some may not intend to use them for such purpose. I've noticed that when I wore red lipstick, I felt like a strong and beautful woman, the same goes for when I wear clothes in that color.

Source

Later in life I learned about the psychology of colors how you can influence someone's reaction or the way your presence in a meeting is perceived due to the colors you wear. That's for another post though, but interesting material to learn more about!

Conclusion

There are so many factors that make me feel like a woman, it's honestly totally depending on my environment, the people around me and what the overall situation is. Sometimes appearance does a lot, and other moments it's more that powerful feeling within myself that makes me feel great in general. Either way, whatever the reason may be today or tomorrow, realizing how I've grown in the past years, and where I come from to where I'm today, I can only say that life seems to be getting better. I always thought that getting older was something to worry about, and would give life a dark edge as you know you're time is running out. But for the past 7 years, I have to think about my age whenever it's my birthday because I truly don't care enough to remember that number. Age is just a number, and life is only getting better!

Life is what you make of it, and I plan on making the most out of it!