Candle Rage

A candle was moved from right place to wrong

My reaction came not as a sweet caring song

But the roar of a bear scattering throng

Demanding said candle go where it belong

No one was frightened more than I

And when the bear silenced

I started to cry and cry

And cry

Asking why

And where had that come from

And how was I to carry on

Not knowing would I turn a page

And therein find again such rage

Mama Bear had visited before

Triggered by hurt or insult

To the children I adore

That made sense

A primal form of maternal defence

But a candle?

Sandra Matthews

It was years ago but can clearly remember the details.

Normally a calm person, not known for shouting but this utterly frightened me.

Early the next morning I called the doctor’s office to book an appointment. He explained that my changing hormones could trigger this kind of thing. I was horrified. He explained that by understanding what was going on I may be able to prevent such outbursts. This was said with no judgement, only gentleness and understanding. At the time I was not convinced.

Turns out the Doctor was right. Many times I would feel anger rising and need to breathe through it or remove myself from a situation. The wave of anger would rise and fall.

Yet we ladies are far from “too emotional”. We are fantastic! We deal with such change while ploughing on with daily life.

We are told to mind ourselves, lose weight and exercise more. Great sounding theories but few are able to rise to these suggestions whilst dealing with real-life struggles.

We do what we can.

Let us lessen the pressure and congratulate ourselves on how wonderful we actually are.

Thanks for listening,

Love, Sandra