We are the Wolves

​It all started about nine months ago. I made the decision to leave a job without knowing exactly what I’d do next. I had two kids in two years and worked tirelessly for a company that was experiencing a lot of change. I was exhausted. And burnt out.
 
I took some time off, and in doing so, opened myself up to meeting new people and learning about new opportunities.
 
This started my noticing of two things.
 
First, everywhere where I went – coffee shops, job interviews, and various events – I was meeting a whole bunch of kick-ass ladies. I recognized that many of us were of similar ages experiencing similar challenges – both at home and in the workplace.
 
Second, I noticed these same kick-ass, driven women doing what I had done.  In no simple terms, they were saying in their own unique ways; “I’m done with your rules, I’m making my own!”
 
They were starting their own businesses, choosing self-employment and charting their own way in established companies.
 
I recently read the transcripts of Abby Wambach’s commencement address at Barnard College. She spoke of the wolves in Yellow Stone National Park. She explained that in 1995 wolves were re-introduced to the park after being absent for seventy years.
 
In the wolves’ absence, the deer’s presence grew, and while the deer grazed endlessly on the vegetation, the river banks began to erode.
 
And, she explained, upon the reintroduction of the wolves to the habitat, the deer thinned out. But, more surprisingly, the rest of the environment changed as well. The deer avoided the valleys and the vegetation in those areas grew. Birds and beavers move backed in, trees sprouted, and the rivers reformed. The plant regeneration stabilized the river banks. The rivers steadied.
 
What do wolves have to do with kick-ass ladies?
 
The ladies, like the wolves, have the power to balance our local ecosystem.
 
The rules they are creating are the rules that will stabilize our environment and allow the living things all around us to grow – both at home and in the workplace.
 
These kick ass ladies. This space. This club will be our wolf pack. We will laugh our way to stabilization and grow our way to steadiness.
 
Please join us.

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amanda wendling

You can find Amanda on LinkedIn.