sometimes I feel like we are living amongst the cavemen. I am shocked at the way people treat each other. I am ashamed to be a part of a group that can be so awful. I know there is goodness in this world and that is the main reason I continue to have faith. But we are so judgmental of one another. We compare what other people look like and have to what we look like and have. Why? Because we think that is how we are supposed to act. It's all bull. We are supposed to live as the smart and kind people we were meant to be. We are supposed to love ourselves and live authentically.
I am especially saddened by how we treat women and girls in this world and this country. As women we need to stand up and as men you need to fully support the women you love. Women and girls must speak their voice, and must know their power and potential and beauty.
Now as a mother of a very smart very beautiful daughter I am more conscious of my actions than ever before. I stopped plucking the grey hairs on my very dark brown head because one time she saw me doing this. I realized that the reason I was doing this was not because I cared about the grey hairs, it was because I thought I should care about it. We are taught to be ashamed of that, hide it, cover it up. I wear mascara and chapstick (that counts as makeup?) a few times a week and that's it. I hate high heels and would rather be barefoot. I really don't care much about clothes and wear the same few things over and over again, I'm sure you've noticed. But the fact is I just don't care about those things, now if you do, that is great. Makeup and fashion are not bad things by themselves, it is how we use them that can be dangerous. Are you teaching your daughter that you are not as pretty without makeup on? Are you showing your niece that she gets praised more because of the clothes that she wears and not the pictures she draws? Are you showing your sister that it's normal to compare yourself to other women? Are you making it easier for you friend to put herself down with negative comments? I have chosen to embrace the grey hairs, the wrinkles, and all the goodness and uniqueness that is me. It is a process but it is something I am willing to work at every day.... I am going to live naturally and authentically me and I am not going to downplay me because someone else says I should.
Let us stop comparing. Let us embrace who we are. Let us be kind to one another. And teach our children to do the same.
