Be the Lighthouse

A guest column by Cathy Struecker...

BY CATHY STRUECKER

GUEST COLUMNIST

Cathy Struecker owns Cairn Yoga and Wellness Studio in Knoxville, Iowa. She’s also the creator of Cultivate Health, Harmony, Happiness.

I’ve known Cathy for maybe ten or fifteen years. Hers is a powerful voice worth listening to. She’s also courageous. It’s difficult—even dangerous—to speak of any number of issues in a conservative community—especially women’s rights. I thank Cathy for her honesty and bravery.

The video below of Stevie Nicks singing The Lighthouse is central to Cathy’s commentary. Please watch it before or after you read what Cathy has to say. Maybe before and after.

Here is Cathy:

I have two beautiful daughters and a son who has some pretty amazingly powerful women in his life and will hopefully continue to on into the future. But if our voices are silenced, if our choices are silenced, we lose our power.

Some of you may know my feisty side.

Yes, I'm opinionated, I can be abrupt, and I've even been known to throw a few punches in my younger eras. I know that violence is not the way. That it only creates division. And I've grown a lot since those times in my life.

But I still have that fire within me. I will stand up for what I know to be right when I can feel it in my body. And this. This, I feel in my body.

My heart is racing as I write this because I don't generally post such bold statements about my beliefs. Part of me plays small because I have a business and don't want to offend anyone. I don't want to veer too far off the comfortable road, appearing to please everyone. No more. This is too important. I've listened to this song more than 10 times and every. single. time. I get choked up and feel the fiery-ness come alive in me. This is how I know I need to speak my truth.

I need to open the channels within me for my energy to flow, or it will create issues in my body down the road.

This is what I teach my clients, so I damn sure better listen if I'm helping others tune into their body's messages this way.

This is not a post from a place of fear. It's a post from a place of love.

I believe in women's rights.

I want my daughters to become strong, empowered women who know how to use their voices, and my son and husband to be surrounded by and in support of the strong, empowered women in their lives. I want them to be a light in a dark world, and hope that I am too, so that maybe the world doesn't have to be so dark anymore. I want to inspire others to be a lighthouse as well. Now is the time. The time to be the lighthouse. Make your vote count.

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I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. Subscribe! Become a paid subscriber if you can afford it. Please and thank you. We need you. Thanks for being part of the team! Want to buy me lunch or a cup of coffee? Venmo @Robert-Leonard-238. My friend Spencer Dirks and I have a podcast titled the Iowa Revolution. Check it out! We can get ornery. And have fun! I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.

Check out the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative political podcast, Iowa Down Ballot.

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