What does it mean to Nurture?
Nurture means to feed and
protect; to support and encourage;
foster; to bring up, train, educate,
develop; something that nourishes.
The thesaurus lists synonyms for
nurture as care, discipline,
instruct, provide,
sustenance, train,
bolster, cherish,
cultivate, nurse,
sustain, support,
tend and
necessities.
Antonyms for
nurture are
deprive,
ignorance, neglect, starve. These
are strong, vivid words, ones that
paint a picture of what our
existence looks like without a
nurturing presence.
I’ve been fascinated by
nurture for the last seven months,
studying it and interviewing
women on the subject, but really
I’ve been unofficially observing it
for my entire forty-three years of
life. I long to be able to understand
it – how we become nurturers,
why it offers value to us and to
those we love, and what it feels
like when nurture is missing.
I’m calling this first article a
definition, but that’s a generous
term as nurture is a wide and
expansive subject. It is subtle and
nuanced, with no one woman
providing repeat answers in my
survey. I think
that’s what I love
so much about it
as a topic. We’ll
have lots to
explore together
over the coming
months.
Nurture
involves process.
It’s slow, requiring a patient sense
of building. To nurture is to care
for something while it grows and
develops, providing
encouragement and support every
step of the way. True nurture first
builds depth in the nurturer,
creating a wellspring of caring
attention to give away to others.
I believe nurture is a
revolutionary act, particularly
when our society doesn’t hold it in
high esteem. When we nurture
well, it feels real and true and
genuine. Nurture is first and
foremost an inside job. The phrase