Dear Woman

My dear friend, though we have never had a fulfilling introduction, and though society and other constructs will pit us against each other in this time of confusion, I want you to know that I see you, and I understand where you are coming from.

I see the struggles. I know them, though not of your particular flavor. I see the insecurity, the jealousy, and I too am familiar with the incessant voice that plagues our gender, telling us that we are not good enough, that we must change our own views, likes, dislikes, even our own character to be accepted  by our peers. I see the facade, I know how much it can drag down on your strength to keep it up, and I honestly applaud you for the strength you display by holding onto it for so long, as destructive as it is for your soul.

Dear woman, sister, I wish you could see the strength in yourself. I wish you could view yourself as you truly are, instead of this mold that society and family and friends and our own insecurities has pushed us into. I wish I could share with you the strength that I have found in myself, that so many women have seen in me and yet it took me over two decades to find myself.

For too long I had my demons, my own shortcomings, and I fought against them the only way I knew how to. By conforming, by changing myself for my partner, for my family, to try to be who society and my upbringing had told me I was supposed to be. And for over two decades I despised who I was.

I hated the woman that was too sexual, the woman that cared too much, the woman that gave up her future for the chance to keep a man around. I hated that she tried to keep someone around by giving him a child. I hated that she was too insecure in herself that she wouldn't see her value past her sex appeal. I hated the she would open herself up to the pain and hurt that comes with rejection over and over again, simply because she believed in the goodness of those around her. But there is beauty in that vulnerability, and there is strength in our shortcomings. 

My mothers, my warrior maidens, my vixens, my beauties, do not EVER let a man dictate how you view yourselves. Do not EVER let those voices in the back of your mind tell you that you are not enough, that you must mold yourselves to keep someone around. Do not go out the door in the morning telling yourselves that you need a man to make your life complete.

YOU are amazing. YOU are strong. YOU are the reason that profanity was designed, because men couldn't figure out any other adjective to properly convey how prodigious you are.

And please, don't wait around for the man that can handle you on your own. Because while you wait, the world will pass you by in leaps and bounds, and the saddest thing I can think of is you passing by so many opportunities that readily prostrate themselves at your marvelous feet, only to be overlooked. 

Life is a beautiful, crazy, stupendous adventure, and my lovelies, I sincerely hope you grab that fucking bull by the horns and show it who it's Mistress is.