We are gritty, come hell and high water women. We are women who won't quit, and who don’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Go ahead, tell us we can’t; see what happens. It’s only fuel for the fire. “You just hide and watch”, that’s what my mom used to say when someone doubted her.

We are gritty, come hell and high water women. We will turn a window into a doorway each and every time. We do whatever it takes to be who we are here to be. We look fear in the face and tell it to either get out, or come along for the ride. We follow our intuition; the pull only we can feel and can't fully explain. We don't know how we know, We just know.

We are women who live outside all those damn boxes we've been given; we never fit inside anyway. Stop telling us what to do, and who we are supposed to be. Stop it with the templates, and the six step plans, and the get rich quick schemes. We see what you’re doing, and we're just not buying it.

We are gritty, come and high water women. We keep on keepin' on, and turn lemons into gold mines. We are learning to claim our value, and celebrate our worth. We weather the storms; the drought, the flood, the waves of feast and famine. We roar and thrive, not in spite of the gale force winds, but because of them.

We know our pain is also our power. We know that no matter what happens, we will figure it out; we always have. We fuck it up and try again. And again. We know our ‘mistakes’ will be the fertile soil of our future.

Everything is progress. Nothing is wasted.

We can feed our families, and our communities, with leftovers from the fridge. We know how to use every part of what we harvest; plant, animal and mineral. We were reducing, reusing and recycling well before it was en vogue. Nothing is wasted. Everything is progress. We are the leaders - a job we never signed up for, but one we will gracefully fill.

We can pull off the improbable, or even impossible, with a flick of the wrist and a toss of our hair. We have a higher power on our side. We don't know how we know, we just do. Unshakable, persistent, resilient, resourceful. We are gritty, come hell and high water women, and we are the ones we've been waiting for.

It’s time for more. More freedom, more ease, more justice, more joy, more PLEASURE, more flow, more fierce, more grace. More of the things we want, less of the things that aren’t working.

We are reclaiming what was never lost, only buried, hidden, sent underground. Told to go sit down and be quiet. Told to be a "good girl". We are reclaiming what was always ours, and is divinely righteous. She has been here always, waiting to rise.

We are Gritty, Come Hell + High Water Women, and this is our story of now.

[For a printable copy of the Manifesto, click here. No strings attached.]