From the age of 5, until I was 13, I was a gymnast. A competitive, elite gymnast. Now I believe all sports require a certain level of mental and physical strength, but gymnastics was an incredibly intense example. I won’t stand on my gymnastics experience soap box; I’ll save that for another time. One major trend that ended up being more notable than I thought at that time, was every gym, every coach, insisted on drilling the following tag line into our little, vulnerable brains: NO CRYING. Be tough! Be strong! Essentially, pretend you are a little robot.
As I grew up, I eventually quit gymnastics. Oddly enough, toward the end of my gymnastic career, I cried more than I had leading up to that time. I continued to grow up with a normal life. But that insistent line was continually shoved into my brain by almost all my superiors; crying=not welcomed.
To a lot of my friends and close people in my life considered me “incredibly sensitive” so, a nice way of saying…you’re a baby.
As I matured and practiced the taboo idea of the 2010’s self-love, someone close to me that I looked up to said to me during a tough time, “You need to grow up and stop crying”, to which I out-of-characterlike said “I am not afraid to show emotion. Just because I show emotion, does not mean I am not strong”.
Women are majestic and incredible beings. We create and grow life inside of us, we embody beauty, grace, and strength. And we feel and emote at a level not many understand. Personally, it has taken me a long time to be proud of my emotions. To be proud that I can feel so deeply, while being such a force of nature. Many of us women will never get to the point of pride. And that is almost unacceptable to me.
The world is cruel and cold and unfair, but it is also beautiful and glorious and unbelievable. To not allow yourself to feel is to deprive yourself of the meaning of life. The reason you’re on this earth. You are strong and you are empathetic. You are respectable and you are vulnerable. You are successful and you are imperfect.
So cry, laugh, scream, demand, and hold the world accountable. Women are responsible for so much light and warmth in the world.
Couldn’t agree more! vulnerability does not equal weakness. I wish more people understood this.
Needed this one! i cried during a year end review at work this week. I was embarrassed that I couldn’t face constructive criticism without tearing up!! im a little sensitive but had been holding in a lot of frustration and emotion for a while which all came out during this meeting. I was embarassed but this is a good reminder that emotion doesn’t equal weakness! I’m passionate okay!!