Something is happening to women in their 50s, and I don't think people are paying enough attention to it.
I'm watching women who spent decades being the reliable ones. The peacemakers. The caregivers. The ones who kept the family together, swallowed their frustration, carried other people's emotional baggage, and were told that being "good" meant being accommodating.
And now something has shifted.
They're looking at marriages that have been one-sided for years.
Friendships built entirely on their effort.
Jobs that took everything they had and gave very little back.
Family roles that expected endless sacrifice while offering little appreciation in return.
And they're asking a simple question:
"Why am I still doing this?"
What's fascinating is that many of these women aren't becoming angry. They're becoming clear.
Clear about their boundaries.
Clear about their value.
Clear about what they will and will not tolerate with the years they have left.
The guilt that used to keep them silent doesn't seem to work anymore.
The fear of disappointing everyone else doesn't seem to work anymore.
The pressure to be endlessly available doesn't seem to work anymore.
An entire generation of women appears to be looking around and deciding:
"If this relationship, job, friendship, or obligation only works when I'm the one doing all the sacrificing, then maybe it doesn't work at all."
And honestly?
It's one of the most interesting social shifts I've seen in a long time.
@Monique33973 Yes, she's a murderer. Obviously. But why are you against learning about postpartum psychosis? Perhaps knowledge will prevent further loss of life.