As a child growing up in a tiny, rural town in the American state of North Carolina, Christie Drozdowski sensed that she would be an adventurer, that she would do things no one else in her family would have.
“I remember a specific moment when I said ‘yes’ to wherever life would take me. I literally knew in my heart that I would follow that yes anywhere in the world,” she says.
Eventually, she did.
In Christie’s early years, her father was an overnight truck driver, so he would be gone for days at a time and her stay-at-home mom raised the two children. Later in life, after both her parents furthered their education, her dad became a Christian minister and her mom a teacher’s assistant.
Religion and spirituality were part of Christie’s growing years. “But I made the choice for myself when I was 15 to truly know God for myself and not for my family,” she explains.
In University, she took up religious studies at first, but then switched to writing and mass communications. “And I was hooked,” she says, on finding her true path. She now has a personal connection with God that is unlike the one that her family told her about.
Christie later married an Englishman, and after a few years living together in the US and having a baby together, they decided to move to the UK last year. “I suppose it’s all about following that ‘yes’ I had promised myself!” she says.
The young family’s decision was treated with apprehension, but Christie learnt to trust her instincts. “In the process of coming to the UK, we lived in Germany for six months first,” she shares. “My husband speaks German, but I do not, so it was daunting and sometimes overwhelming. However, we met some amazing people there, and my heart was able to understand even more clearly that people around the world all feel the same things.”
Eventually they settled in England, and –with a baby girl keeping her days full – Christie’s writing turned towards motherhood and the experience of being a woman.
“I especially love interviewing people to communicate truths about parenting,” she says, referencing a recent piece on maternal mental health, specifically about postpartum rage, and the insight she gained from interviewing a therapist and a psychiatrist.
“I was able to find validation in my own feelings of anger in the beginning of my motherhood journey through writing this piece, and it was life-changing.” Christie and her husband are expecting their second child this autumn.
Christie writes often about why 21st century feminism should be wary of isolating stay-at-home mothers, and instead seek a way to value and honour both women and men without diminishing one or the other.
She is also passionate about being a part of a generation and a tribe of women who support one another.
“There is so much healing and freedom and power when women come together,” she says. “We have so many walls that build up around our hearts, but tearing them down and continuing to let people in will give our lives so much more meaning. Life is truly about loving other people and being loved.”
First published in the June 2018 issue of eShe magazine
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