Wild Women Are Not Meant to Fit in Academia’s World...

Let me paint you a picture of a WILD WOMAN. She’s a woman who knows her worth, who’s at peace with herself, full of ancient wisdom and radiating life force energy everywhere she goes. Everything she touches turns into liquid gold—honey dripping with essence. She’s alluring and mystic, yet loving and approachable. She’s not tamed by anything, ever flowing, ever free. The epitome of femininity in its raw, untamed beauty. She is the wild spark of life.

According to Clarissa Pinkola Estes, “Women’s depression in society is caused by severely restricted soul life in which innovation, impulse, and creation are restricted or forbidden.”

Let that sink in for a second. WILD WOMEN ARE NOT MEANT TO FIT IN AN OVERACHIEVING, EGO-DRIVEN, PATRIARCHAL WORLD.

In academia, you are valued by numbers, by one-size-fits-all performance reviews, by masculine values that thrive on linear paths—none of which have room for creativity or flow. You’re judged by what you’ve achieved: the sleepless nights, the colleagues you outshine, the boundaries you’ve crossed to prove yourself worthy. And let’s not forget—the constant joke that you’ve forgotten what self-care even means, because your worth is only measured in how much stress and sacrifice you can handle.

Now, I’m not completely throwing shade at the masculine values in academia. Structure and purpose? Absolutely necessary. But here’s the thing: OUR SOCIETY IS BUILT FOR PATRIARCHY. Ever since the 19th century, when women were demanding their rights and claiming their sensuality and sexuality, the little boys who ruled the world saw an alarming threat in wise, educated women. So, what did they do? They tried to SABOTAGE WOMEN from entering education, pushing them into corners and trying to keep them small.

But despite all that? Inspiring women like Marie Skłodowska Curie, Dorothy Hodgkin and Lise Meitner have made GROUND-BREAKING CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE, proving that women belong in this space, too. So why is it that we continue to downgrade and shame women in academia, rather than create an environment where they can actually thrive?

If you ask women in academia how many of them feel soul-fulfilled, radiating with life force energy, passionate and alive... the answer is probably 1 in 100. We achieve the "desired" evaluation, but our guts are empty, and we’re left wondering what the point of it all really is. That’s not living, that’s existing.

WOMEN ARE INSTINCTUAL BEINGS. So if you’re sitting there reading this and something in your body is telling you, “This isn’t the life I want”—LISTEN. Don’t ignore that whisper. It’s your soul begging you to wake up. We are life force energy, we are creative power, we are the spark of innovation and passion. And if all we’re radiating is a dull, lifeless fog—then it’s time to WAKE UP and ROAR.

Women are meant to be DRIPPING WITH LIFE FORCE ENERGY, to be CREATIVE, CHARMING, ALLURING, overflowing with wisdom and passion. So why are these qualities dismissed in academia? Why does the education system continue to reject the feminine, creative side of science?

I’m inviting you to sit with this idea for a moment. As you read this, did your body give you a niggle—a feeling that something was off, something that made you pause and think? If yes, then good. This is the beginning of your journey of RECLAIMING your wild, untamed self in a world that tries to make you fit into a box.

YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO FIT IN. YOU ARE MEANT TO BREAK FREE AND EXPAND.

And guess what? You have my full support in this reclamation journey!

P.S. Keep the words flowing and the coffee brewing - fuel the huntress! ☕