THIS IS ME

another round of bullets hits my skin, well, fire away ’cause today, I won’t let the shame sink in… we are bursting through the barricades and reaching for the sun, we are warriors, yeah, that’s what we’ve become… I won’t let them break me down to dust, I know that there’s a place for us, for we are glorious…

It’s International Women’s Day. Thanks to social media, you already know that. Tomorrow will go back to being just another regular day. No one will be posting about how amazing we all are. And that’s okay. But I wanted to put this post here for you so that you can read it, whenever you need to. Do we deserve to be celebrated everyday? Yes. Here’s why.

Women spend their lives making sure that everyone around them is alright. Like, I don’t know if you understand that. Even the women who claim to be bad ass and not give a shit about anyone? Yes, even them. Secretly, but yes. It’s fucking built into our DNA, we can’t even help it. And it’s annoying and scary and awful sometimes, but it’s not something we can just turn off. Even when people piss us off or are total assholes, we still care and want them to be okay. We spend our time thinking about how to fix them or the situation so everything is wrapped up with a pretty fucking bow.

We take time and consideration when we are doing things. Even menial tasks. We make sure these things are done with love and will make people feel good. We are almost always let down by the reaction we get to those things because the amount of time and consideration that went into it is never seen or appreciated the way we physically need it to be. Even though we aren’t entirely sure what we physically need in that moment. And that may sound really complicated to you, but why don’t you try putting yourself into that woman’s shoes? So when she goes from really great to really awful in a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds? I’m telling you, it’s for that reason.

We consistently stroke the egos around us. Making sure we don’t seem smarter and make others feel small. We get micromanaged and told how to do things we already know how to do. There’s nothing more annoying, but still, we smile and nod like we are supposed to because that is what we were taught. It’s really silly when you think about it. But there is no limit to the lengths we will go to make sure the ones around us are okay, even when we are not.

I’m not saying that we should all placate women, because we don’t fucking want that either. Trust me. Most of us don’t want to feel like people are handing shit over to us without us doing the work. The majority of us work really hard, in the home, at work, and a lot of the time, both. Never question the strength of a woman. Even the really shitty ones have their battles. We can move mountains if people would just give us a fucking chance. And a lot of our frustration comes from people not thinking we can.

Do we make things more complicated than they need to be? Absofuckinglutely. I’m going to say this loud for the people in the back: WE. CAN’T. FUCKING. HELP. IT. What we have been through and what we are currently living in is constantly swirling around our gray matter. All day, everyday. And so all of those things get wrapped up in the day to day nonsense of it all. We don’t get rewarded for the hoops we jump through. And dude, it’s like we are jumping all fucking day. All the things I listed above, just hoop, after hoop, after hoop. Cut us some slack!

We get one day a year to celebrate every woman who came before us who paved the way to get us where we are now. And that can’t ever stop. People have underestimated women since the beginning of time. And we have consistently shown them that we are more than what they thought. Not all of us are going to end up in a history book, but damn, wouldn’t it be fucking awesome if you were friends with someone who will?

Happy International Women’s day to you. You are stronger than you think. Please always remember that. Never stop being who you are. And if you need to be reminded of that, I’m here for you.

when the sharpest words wanna cut me down, I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown ’em out, I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I’m meant to be, this is me… look out ’cause here I come, and I’m marching on to the beat I drum, I’m not scared to be seen, I make no apologies, this is me…

Song name: THIS IS ME/ Artist: Keala Settle (The Greatest Showman)/ Year: 2017