I used to hate being a woman. Yes, hate. For me the word woman or girl, whatever one used to describe females gave me one vibe in particular which I hated; that women were weak. I didn’t like that at all. I couldn’t understand why women had to be categorized as helpless or made to do certain things and men were not.
I could not fathom why it was as though the male child should be treated as special compared to the female child. So I set on a mission, a mission to prove them wrong. A mission to prove that I was strong, independent and just as good as the men, maybe even better.
If you know me, you know I’m quite the handyman. I can fix a number of things around the house. And while I’m not exactly displeased with the whole journey as I picked up some useful skills along the way, I maybe could have handled things better. I could have had a better mindset.
You see, the point should never have been to prove that I was better than the male child. Cos in doing that, at some point, I let go of my femininity. I actually lost my real strength. Because real strength, as I have now come to know, is in standing tall and being proud of who you are. Accepting who you were made to be and letting it shine forth.
When I went on that journey, it was no longer about being a better me. It became being a better them. I have now learned that my goal shouldn’t be to be better than them because to be better than them, I have to be them. It’s about being a better me, that way I retain my originality. And my edge really is in my originality.
After some life experiences, I eventually realized that I got it all wrong. Society definitely has a lot to learn when it comes to the perception that has been created of women. But, I realized that the male child is not the enemy, they never were. There’s another enemy that seeks to sow a seed of discord amongst us so we lose sight of the real battle. That’s a story for another day.
I looked around and started to see that being female didn’t mean weakness and being strong didn’t mean that I have to be male. I could be female and strong. I could be female and exude strength. I could be me.
As we celebrate Women all over the world today, consider this my way of saying thank you to every woman who has taught me that being female can and does equate strength.
So here’s to all women,
Blessed with ‘em shapes and figures
Exuding Wisdom and Strength
Filled with elegance and beauty
Sometimes dramatic but still filled with poise
Here’s to all strong women
May we know them
May we be them
And may we raise them
