Saturday, June 29, 2013

things i will tell my daughter over and over again

i. your worth is not in the way you look, the way you dress, the scars you have, the ways your body bends and stretches, the way you can lower your gaze out of a falsely throttled respect or the way boys compliment you. your worth is in your mind, your heart, your soul. you are not a pretty toy to be played with, you are a human with emotions and thoughts and awfully annoying habits. you are made of mistakes, carved out of flaws that need healing. you are not God. do not try to play God. 

ii. there will be days when you will feel too fat or too skinny. days where your skin could be one tone darker or one tone lighter. those days, you will hate your freckles and your eye bags. you will hate how your hair doesn’t cooperate and how you can’t wear that one shirt without showing off your breasts. those are the days you need to work harder on shaping your mind. those are the days you need to get up and read that really difficult book you have been putting off. you are going to work yourself hard to become a more thoughtful, a more profound, a more well-read, a more educated person.

iii. there will be boys who flatter you and there will be boys who humiliate you. neither matter. you are not an object. you will not let them objectify you. you will stand up for yourself. you will fight your own battles. you don’t need a chivalrous man to fight them for you. you are on your own and you will thrive on your own.

iv. you will be kind. your kindness will be your biggest strength. you will learn to forgive. you will learn to empathize. and you will learn to give when the person you are giving to doesn’t deserve it.

v. you will love. fiercely, passionately, with your whole heart, and with your entire being. you will not let the cruel harden you.

vi. you will make mistakes and you will learn from them. you will cry, you will wipe your tears, and you will move on. it is okay to be who you are. it is okay to feel things. it is okay to be human, in your own way.

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