A young girl is faced with many challenges that people don’t seem to understand. There is so much that she is expected to live up to, so much that she is expected to be, and it’s completely overwhelming. Young girls are expected to limit themselves; they are expected to not threaten the ideal of a man. She is to be strong, but not stronger. She is to be smart, but not smarter. How can a girl love herself if she does not have love from society.?
We’ve all heard Beyoncé’s song Flawless. The song is all about embracing your true beauty without the pressure of society. And so when you’re belting the lyrics, are you really listening to what you’re saying? We’ve heard the speech and we’ve jammed out to it, but do we really believe it? We all know that it should be that way, but still, it isn’t. It is so hard for women to find themselves and find who they are supposed to be, while they are expected to already know. Recently, I decided to make a bold fashion statement and wear a tie to school. Now, if I had been a young boy than maybe it would have been perceived better, but since I am a teenage girl, everyone was confused and somewhat offended. When I tell my friends that I like the shoes that the boy next to me is wearing, they look at me like some kind of foreign creature. When I tell them that I want to be a lawyer and an amazing mother, they look at me like I don’t know my place.

It is suffocating and exhausting to always be told what you can’t do. Women have come such a long way and have fought for such a long time, and still they are not treated the same way as men are. Men tell us to be realistic, to know our place. We are expected to “know their limits”, but I call crap on the whole idea. Don’t know your limits, ladies; exceed everyone’s expectations.

It shouldn’t matter who I am, what I look like, what I wear, or what I want to be. All that matters is that I know what I’m striving for, and I don’t stop for a moment to rethink my dreams because someone doesn’t believe that I can achieve them. This life is way to short to be cautious of what everyone else thinks. And so when I’m strutting down the halls in my timberlands and my snapback, when I’m talking about the new Jordans that just dropped, or when I’m running to my locker because I’m late for cheer, I keep these things in mind.

Yes, I might be a little strange. And yes, I might like things that are “for boys”, but it doesn’t mean that in the same moment that I’m talking about Wolf Grey III, I don’t turn around and ask my friends how this shirt looks with this skirt.

All I’m asking you ladies is to not be afraid to stand out, to outshine boys. You don’t have to worry about what others will think, just know that you’re beautiful. One of my favorite quotes of all time is: “An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you”  - Unknown. No one can hurt you if you don’t let. Don’t let anyone’s opinion about you get in your head; don’t let anything get to you. Fight for who you are; for the right to be what you want to be, and look good while doing it. Women are strong, stronger than most think, and it’s time to show that. So show ‘em, girls.

Embrace you oddities, and love them, because they make you, you. And you’re beautiful, I promise you, you are.