Wake Up American Women, a Book by Andrea Riggs

Wake Up, American Women is an invitation to the most blessed women in the world to stop for a moment, look around with fresh eyes and wake up to what we are unconsciously allowing to happen in the United States. A heartfelt report from Andrea Riggs, a single woman living in Orange County, California, who loves her life and her country, this astonishing book sets the record straight on how far we’ve come and what we have yet to overcome.

In 1872, the courageous suffragette Susan B. Anthony said this:
"I do pray…for some terrific shock to startle the women of the nation into a self-respect which will compel them to see the absolute degradation of their present position; which will compel them to break their yoke of bondage and give them faith in themselves; which will make them proclaim their allegiance to women first…The fact is, women are in chains, and their servitude is all the more debasing because they do not realize it. Oh to compel them to see and feel and to give them the courage and the conscience to speak and act for their own freedom, though they face the scorn and contempt of all the world for doing it."

Shockingly, her words still hold true today. Since the inception of our young nation, women have been inundated with the false beliefs that we:

fit a narrowly defined standard of beauty;
are only as good as we marry;
express our self-worth only through the bearing of children;
need to remain eternally youthful;
must have treasure chests full of money to keep up with the status quo.

We, American women, have literally bought into these beliefs. We spend billions of dollars and thousands of hours every year on products and services that seemingly improve us. Yet, we are no happier and contribute nothing more to the world. This waste of our time and talent is becoming increasingly detrimental to our own health and welfare and to the welfare of our daughters and other less fortunate women around the globe.

Since the time of Susan Anthony, there has been progress. In fact our story begins with the good news, because for women living in the United States in the 21st century, it is really all good news. We have everything. We have so much that we have let ourselves become consumed by things that do not matter. Our society seems to have taken on a new set of traumas that can be characterized as "external correction disorders." Statistics show that for the young women in the United States:

eating disorders;
elective surgeries;
teen pregnancy;
physical abuse; and
drug & alcohol addiction

are all on the rise. Our daughters are telling us unconsciously, with their bodies, and their continuing struggle to achieve personal power through external sources, that our affluent, media driven society has much more interior work to do. It is imperative that we reach inside ourselves to evoke the internal paradigm shift that will embody the external equality that is already ours in this country. As we examine the myths and their effects, each chapter offers tools for women to embark on their personal transformation out of limiting conscious and unconscious behavior and into wholeness.

In the end, this book offers hope. It examines the qualities of women, such as Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who were successful in gaining the right to vote and demonstrates their ability to create change amidst the unpopular conventional wisdom of their time. In addition, this book provides a look at how some 30 and 40 something ordinary women, have broken through old paradigms to create great positive changes for themselves and their families. These stories reflect the tidal wave of balance and harmony they have been able to achieve with the courage to step out of the old paralyzing familiar ways.

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