Our forever first lady, Michelle Obama, has been a beacon of light and hope for many women since she and her family moved into the White House in 2009. The country witnessed what an educated and intelligent Black woman looks like all while she continued to support her husband, be a mother and remain classically stylish.
Even after the end of her husband’s presidency, she continued to inspire through authoring her memoir and New York Times best seller, “Becoming” and her newest work, “The Light We Carry.” Just when you think she’s done enough, we get a little more as she sits down with Oprah Winfrey in the new Netflix special titled after her recent book.
When you have the opportunity to witness Michelle in all of her beauty, grace and elegance, it is hard to believe that she is anything like us. During her conversation with Oprah, we get to understand Michelle in a new light as she proves to be more relatable and human than ever before. She and Barack Obama left the White House scandal-free (with the exception of a tan suit) and Michelle speaks to the pressure that put on her.
She knew that being the first Black family to live in the White House, she had to live up to a standard that no other presidential family had ever accomplished. After serving two terms, and finally getting time away from the pressures, she continued to put the pressure on herself. Michelle talks about how she and her husband tried to get everything right while leading the country and to see it all undone within a short period of time, left her feeling rather low and hopeless. Not only that, but she still had mothering to do. She still needed to be present in her relationship with her husband and she felt she needed to be perfect doing it all.
In addition to her own personal struggles, the COVID-19 pandemic began creeping its way in. The feelings related to the end of her husband’s presidency continued to persist as the pandemic created a great divide in the country based on disinformation. Along with watching her and her husband’s hard work unravel, quarantine and isolation hit her just as hard as it did everyone else. Michelle Obama found herself depressed.
Her admittance of depression provided a version of her that the public may have never considered. Michelle was determined to beat these feelings and return to the version of herself that she knew, hence her latest project: “The Light We Carry.” She speaks to her father being her main source of inspiration detailing his battle with multiple sclerosis (MS) and how he was tenacious every single day.
She uses the metaphors of knitting, a kitchen table and light to show how she coped with it all. With light being a recurring theme in the documentary and in her book, it serves as a reminder that everyone has a light in them and it represents who they are at their very best. To be our very best in order to share our light with others means we must always serve ourselves.
The former first lady is the epitome of what a lot of women aim to be. We know her to be many things, so many things that some may think she has it all. Michelle is clear to let us know that everyone can have it all, just not all at the same time. She focuses on what she can control and does her best to carry her light high for others to see. The documentary touches on many topics that relate to her book but even without having read it, there are tidbits of advice and wisdom that shouldn’t be passed up.