What You Missed in 1923
You’re focused on who died, who left, and who didn’t get their happy ending. When the real plot twist is what it revealed about YOU.
Maybe it’s just the way my mind works, I don't know, but here goes.
I’ve fallen madly in love with all of Taylor Sheridan’s recent masterpieces. The casting, the filming locations, the storylines, and the award-winning writing. But one thing that truly stands out in 1883, 1923, and Yellowstone is the powerful female characters. These women are some of the most empowering, complex, and thought-provoking leads I’ve seen in a long time. And maybe that’s why the shows have gained such popularity. Okay, maybe it's also because of Cole Hauser, Brandon Sklenar, and Kevin Costner, to name a few of these super yummy masculine roles. But while the world’s busy thirsting over Rip or Spencer, Sheridan did something the rest of Hollywood seems to have forgotten: he brought back powerful feminine energy.
Where the Focus Is… and Where It Could Be
But as much as you’d expect female viewers to revel in that feminine power, that’s not always where their focus goes. And this is where these shows become mirrors, revealing a deeper truth about what many women are feeling and prioritizing today: lack.
I’m going to write this with as few spoilers as possible, because I’ve dropped friendships over that kind of betrayal. You’re safe here, promise.
But let’s be honest: whether you’re fuming over the ending of 1883 or 1923, you’re likely more focused on what went wrong than what went right. It’s the same in life. When I coach women on relationships, this is the pattern: lack-based thinking.
Relationships that don’t work out suddenly become the worst relationships ever. Even if most of it was beautiful, we only remember the final blow. That’s what happens when you let your untrained negativity bias drive the narrative. Let it rule the show, and it will rule you. You’re not at the mercy of your ex who cheated, nor society and its expectations. You are at the mercy of YOU.
(Fun fact: Our brains are wired to remember negative experiences more vividly than positive ones—a survival trait known as negativity bias. But guess what? That programming can be rewritten.)
What Women Are Really Feeling
Take the character of Alexandra. She pulled a lot of jealousy out of viewers, especially women. But why? She’s strong, tenacious, soft, romantic, playful, deeply passionate, and wildly unashamed of all of it. She’s everything women secretly want permission to be.
Yet we’re told: not to assert ourselves, not to embrace the full expression of our divine femininity, and for the love of God, never go after the man you love!
We’ve been fed lines like:
"You’re not powerful if you love with your whole heart, think logically."
"Don’t put him on a pedestal."
"Don’t show him TOO much of your feelings—he will treat you like a doormat."
Sound familiar?
But you know what? That kind of thinking is holding you back.
But that’s the thing—if you want a love like Spencer and Alex or Isabel and Sam, you can’t expect him to do all the work. These relationships are powerful because they grow apart and together. They face challenges and choose each other anyway. You want real love? You have to put the baggage down, leave it at the station, and get on the damn train.
Powerful Partnerships Require More Than Manifestation
You want to know what makes Alex and Spencer work? It’s not just chemistry. It’s not lust. It’s alignment + independence. It’s the truth that the most powerful relationships aren’t ones where you cling and blend — they’re the ones where you expand.
They grow apart, and they grow together. They have their own minds, their own missions. They don’t try to “fix” each other. They choose each other, again and again, even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.
Alex doesn’t abandon herself to be with Spencer — she amplifies herself. And Spencer doesn’t just protect her — he respects her. Their dynamic isn’t about co-dependence, it’s about co-evolution.
And babe, that is what we’re all craving. That’s the real secret sauce: a connection where you both hold your own flame, and together, you make a raging bonfire.
Real love is choosing each other without losing yourself. It’s not about perfect compatibility, it’s about growing individually, while holding space for the other to do the same.
I’m More Alexandra Than They Can Handle
I love Alex because I am like Alex. And that doesn’t always go down well. You can’t be witty and pretty, right? You can’t be patient with a man or believe in romantic love unless you’re desperate, right? You’re supposed to be unattached, indifferent, numbing your desire with casual hookups and convincing yourself you don’t care.
But I do care. I care deeply. I am like Alex. And I will never apologise for that.
The silver lining? I respect myself too much to play the game. I love the woman I am. I won't bend to rules designed to keep women miserable, and neither should you.
The Love-Hate Relationship with Sheridan’s Endings
Another thing that came up after the 1923 finale: people labeling Taylor Sheridan as misogynistic. Are we watching the same shows?! This man created some of the most compelling female leads of the last decade.
1883 gave us Elsa: a wild, poetic soul with unmatched courage.
1923 gave us Alex, Cara, Isabel, and don’t even get me started on Teonna Rainwater, little recognition in the headlines, but who might just be one of the most badass of them all.
Meanwhile, plenty of the male characters met their end, and still, no one’s out here hollering misandry. Let’s call it what it really is: projection. People weren’t mad at Taylor—they were mad at how the story made them feel.
Because it cracked something open. And babe, feeling leads to healing. But healing? That’s not always a gentle ride on horseback through blooming fields.
Sometimes it’s stormy skies, deep mud, and nights where the only thing keeping you warm is a half-empty bottle of tequila… and a Western like 1923 playing in the background. And sure, you could stay in that cozy little cabin, shotgun on the windowsill, pretending the world can’t hurt you.
But would you ever really feel alive?
That question’s rhetorical, beautiful one. And I think you already know, life isn’t meant to be safe, it’s meant to be felt.
I often seem to find myself on the other side of popular opinion. The more I’ve noticed how quickly the crowd moves, the more I’ve realised how deeply influenced those opinions are by surface-level narratives and the sheer volume of people living in emotional reactivity rather than deep reflection. Popular opinion today? It’s not always rooted in truth. It’s swayed by headlines, algorithms, and pain that hasn’t been processed.
So I’ll happily stay on my side of the ridge, thanks. Where the view is clear, the air is honest, and characters like Teonna and writers like Taylor Sheridan get the standing ovation they deserve.
The Truth Bomb: Modern Society Is Gaslighting Your Belief in Lasting Love
Now let’s take this further.
As we’ve seen in these shows, sometimes the lovers don’t make it. Life gets in the way. Death, distance, destruction—real shit. And in today’s world? The gun slinger has been replaced with dating apps. The infected wound with social media obsession. The plague with fear-mongering and doom-scrolling and everything leaking into your subconscious that screams “Love is not safe for me”.
But don’t let society trick you into thinking lasting love isn’t real.
If you want the kind of connection you saw between Spencer and Alex, or Sam and Isabel, you need to believe in love more than you believe in fear. Period.
You have to be stronger than what society wants you to believe. Love can last. But it requires something bold: hope. And guts. And a willingness to saddle up and try again.
Trust the Universe (Even in a Blizzard)
Sometimes, just when you think it’s over, when the world has gone quiet and cold, when your breath fogs the air and your hope feels like it’s on its last leg, standing in god knows what the fuck, minus degrees celsius—you’ll spot movement in the distance. A flicker. A silhouette.
Is it real? A trick of the snow? A dream? No, darling. It’s them.
They saw you. They turned around. They leaped off the train, no hesitation.
Because what’s meant for you doesn’t vanish into the horizon. It doesn’t stay on the train and disappear. It finds a way back, no matter the weather, against all odds.
They might even tell you you’re crazy for believing. But you’ll know.
And the universe? She nods quietly, like she always knew.
Sheridan’s Women Gave You the Green Light!
So beautiful, reader, consider this your permission slip. You can be wild, soft, bold, untamed. You can want love and still be whole. You can build your empire and kiss your man like it’s the last night on Earth.
Taylor Sheridan’s heroines? They’re not your competition. They’re your mirror. They’re proof that feminine power, tenderness, and loyalty can coexist.
Rewatch those episodes and feel into how those women made you feel. That is your direction. That is your green light.
You already have the power inside of you. Don’t waste it in the wishing well of "I wish I could be more like her." BE HER.
Let’s Stop Mourning. Let’s Start Becoming.
Don’t focus on the sexual assault scenes. Don’t focus on the suffering. Don’t focus on the deaths. Let’s stop focusing on trauma and start focusing on aliveness.
How each female lead made you feel. How they lit something up in you.
Blow the old you a big kiss, and step fully into the new one.
And thank the fuck out of Taylor Sheridan for writing women like this. Because now? You’ve got no more excuses.
The horizon’s wide open, sweetheart. Saddle up. It’s time to ride.
Which powerful female lead will you now embody? And why? 📩
Download your freebie to feminine freedom here ⬇️
There is a shadow side to our bold daring to live, rather than just exist in another’s shadow—we tend to dance out of step until we completely trust. Alexa’s statement of not trusting his return isn’t a lack of trust in him, it’s a lack of trust in the waiting. Women have been conditioned to feel lack and strong women push through in a strength that also may not always afford them the space to pause in the liminal unknown. Wisdom affords us this in the dance.
The feelings I was left with was that this was not just some madeup story. This was their real life and it took courage in the commitment to not only live fully in the moments they had, it took greater commitment to live beyond for the memorial of each who no longer dance this physical realm with us. As a parent whose only son has already ascended from his physical human dance with those who love him, our courage to continue the dance of Souls with him is our grace and our bold daring to live and not just exist in that love.
Thank you for the reflections Sister Warrior❤️💃❤️