IWD 2019

Happy International Women's Day to ya!

I love being a woman--I always have. I've always felt right at home in my female body and mind. My mom raised me to believe in myself and to believe I can do anything I set my mind to. I didn't feel "below" on the spectrum of gender because I felt I was given all the opportunities I wanted. I'm grateful to have felt such empowerment growing up, but because of this, I sometimes failed to see where gender inequality happened in my life and how prominent it was in the world. It wasn't until college, that I recognized gender inequality as a serious issue in the world, and since then, I've been so determined to prove that women are as capable to do anything that a man can do.

But honestly, I'm not here to rant to you; I'm just hear to speak openly and admiringly to my fellow women out there. You are so treasured and believed in by me.

As women, we automatically live a different life than men. Because women are given expectations as well as limitations. She never asked for them, and it is up to her to decide how she will go about them. Will she exceed her expectations? Will she change them? Will she fight to overcome her limitations? Will she let them define her? These are questions every woman must answer for herself at some point in her lifetime.

I'm here to remind you that the world will have expectations and limitations placed upon you simply because you are a woman, but it's up to you whether you listen to them. They'll tell you to be kind, to be passive, to be a nurturer. And it's okay if you chose to be all those things because you want to, but know you can be WHATEVER you want to be. As an individual, you can define your own expectations. You can set your own limitations. You define who YOU are as a woman. You can be kind, passive, and nurturing. You can also be bold, aggressive, and independent. You can have kids; you can not have kids. You can lead; you can follow. You can be the employee or the CEO. You can be the stay-at-home mom or the working mom. You can be whoever the hell you want to be. It's your natural right as a citizen of the world, and no one has the right to take that away from you.

I often hear women say they hope to have male children because females are harder. I always laugh to myself. If anyone should know how to raise a woman, it would be another woman, right? As females, shouldn't we want to create more women in the world? More women to be BOLD, to be STRONG, to be INDEPENDENT, and to BELIEVE in herself. I know that's what I want because I think the more women there are loving, believing in, and accepting themselves, the more men we might find as allies. We aren't here to be at war with one another; we're here to connect and coexist together. [I'd love to give a big thank you to all the men who already support and cheer on women as your equal counterpart. I'm blessed to be married to one of you.]

So this IWD, I hope you'll celebrate the women around you. Love on them, support them, lift them up. Where there is injustice, I hope you'll speak up. Where there is success, I hope you'll celebrate. Never stop fighting for y(our) place in the world!

"Here's to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them."