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Being a Woman!
Living in an Invisible Prison
I still remember that Saturday as if it were today. It was 5:30 AM when my alarm went off. The plan was simple: wake up before everyone else, go for a 40-minute run, take a quick shower, and prepare breakfast for the family before the morning chaos began. But when I put on my sneakers and was about to leave, I heard my youngest daughter crying. In that moment, like so many others, my time was no longer my own.
This is the silent story of millions of women living in an invisible prison, where the bars are made of social expectations and the handcuffs are forged by the unconditional love we dedicate to others. And the numbers don’t lie: only 33% of American women meet the weekly recommendations for aerobic exercise, compared to 43% of men. This disparity crosses cultures and defines a universal reality: being a woman often means putting yourself last.
The most shocking part? We, women, are slowly dying because of this systematic self-denial. We live six years longer than men, true, but we spend a larger percentage of our lives with health problems. It’s as if we’re trading quantity for quality of life, a macabre bargain that no one asked if we wanted to make.
I remember a recent conversation with my sister, who has three children. “Do you know the last time I exercised without feeling guilty?”…
