The Reason You’re Exhausted
This week in Vayetze, Rachel isn’t hanging out at the well waiting for her prince to show up.
She’ s taking care of her flock.
A real working woman doing real work.
Many women in Tanach worked quietly behind the scenes in the most essential ways.
Zipporah and her sisters at the well.
Rivka quenching the thirst of the camels.
Shifra and Puah delivering babies under impossible conditions.
These women show up in the text quietly.
Nothing dramatic.
Just steady work that keeps life moving.
But here’s what we almost always skip…
They did this work with a tribe.
Rachel and Leah worked side by side.
Zipporah went with her sisters.
Shifra and Puah were a team.
These women did heavy work, but they did it with support.
That was the norm.
The tribe shared the load.
Now look at us.
We are doing just as much as they did, only without a tribe built into our daily life.
We live in small family units.
We run households without the consistent support women used to have.
Even with a wonderful community, most of the daily stuff still lands on one person… you.
Filling the soap dispenser.
Planning the meals.
Keeping track of every appointment.
Holding the whole system in your head so the house actually functions.
None of it is small and it’s constant.
You’re carrying the weight of the village without the resources of one.
Every day in Tidy Together I see women beating themselves up for the length of their to do lists.
Putting everyone ahead of themselves.
Taking on tasks they do not need to do themselves.
Sure, the other people in your house might not do it as well as you.
Maybe the towels will be folded the wrong way or the dishwasher will look chaotic.
But who cares?
It would be done.
And done is better than perfect.
The only reason so much falls on you is because you do not have a tribe built in. But you can create one.
A small one.
A family-sized tribe.
A tribe where tasks are shared and perfection is not the goal. Where things get done unevenly but the load is lighter.
And once you stop trying to be the whole village, you finally have space to step back and see your life clearly. That is the whole point of Women Who Lit the Way.
Women Who Lit the Way is a nightly reset for each night of Chanukah.
A time to pause and reflect on your life with honesty and without judgement.
A story of a Jewish heroine to inspire you.
A coloring page to help you relax.
Journal prompts to help you figure out what is working and where you can drop the habits that drain you.
Tools to help you see what you can skip, what you can share, and what is not worth your time at all.
Little shifts that add up, so you are not carrying the load of a whole village by yourself.
If you want something gentle and grounding to guide you through that process, the Women Who Lit the Way ebook is instant, and the printed version is ready to ship.
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