To be read on the International Day of the Midwife or whenever the world forgets who you are.
I light this imaginary candle
for the part of me that knows how to hold life as it enters and exits,
how to sit in stillness when there are no answers,
how to be with, not fix, not flee, but simply be with.
I light it for the wisdom in my hands
that recognize a heartbeat before machines confirm it,
that sense a turn before eyes can see it,
that know when to touch and when to wait.
I honour the quiet strength in me
the part that keeps showing up
even when doors are shut,
when doubt screams,
when my hands tremble,
even when I’m the one in need of holding.
I am a midwife
not because someone stamped a paper
but because I walk people through thresholds:
birth, loss, identity, love, return,
and I do not flinch in the face of pain.
I carry ancient knowledge in modern hands.
I am the echo of every midwife who came before me-
their courage woven into my bones,
their songs humming in my blood.
Women who knew the rhythms of life
long before medicine had a name for them.
Whether I practice in July
or start again from the ashes
I am still the same soul
with hands that know how to catch life
and a heart that knows how to stay.
Every time you sit with someone's truth,
without fixing, just witnessing,
you midwife a moment.
When you walk a friend back from the edge of despair,
you catch something sacred.
When you hold silence for someone who's grieving
that too is a delivery room.
When you speak truth even with a trembling voice
you make space for something new to be born.
When you resist the urge to escape discomfort, and instead breathe with it
you are practicing the deepest kind of midwifery.
Midwifery is not just a profession.
It is a way of seeing. A way of being.
A sacred thread connecting you to every culture,
every era, every place where life transforms.
No system, no rejection, no pause can take it away from you.
You may not be catching babies right now.
But you are catching people. Catching fragments. Catching yourself.
Remember this when doubt creeps in
the most ancient work requires no credentials.
Only presence. Courage. Love.
This work lives in your essence,
not in your circumstances.
There is no off-duty for a soul like yours.