“We went from talking almost every night to talking almost every month. ‘Shelainea, you need to tell your mom.’ The divorce took a toll. She changed for the worst. ‘You shouldn’t be going through my phone!’ I couldn’t believe she was doing this to me.”
‘Where are you right now? If you’re still there, you need to get out! You need to tell your mom.’: Woman finds happiness after years of abuse, neglect
‘She just listens to the ceiling fan spin. Her hurt and doubt soak her pillowcase with tears.’: Woman prays for others struggling with acceptance, ‘Dry her tears, God’
“When her head hits the pillow, her mind suddenly wakes up. And then, it gets really freaking mean. ‘Why aren’t you in better shape?’ it hisses in her head. ‘Your husband is aging better than you.’ By two, she’s exhausted from the thoughts, the Googling, and the tears.”
‘We’ve got the eyelash extensions. We’re dribbling collagen into our coffee. We’re thinking, ‘Maybe I just need to drink more water.’: Woman urges ‘separatewho you are, from how you look’
“These products…these augmentations…these makeup-tricks…aren’t doing what we want them to do. Because what we WANT them to do is make us look 24 again. We’re years away from becoming ‘cute for their age.’ For their age. Our identity is soul-crushingly wrapped up in things that can be taken away from us.”
‘The higher-ups in my command took pictures of my rape and left them on my phone. They thought it was funny. ‘It’s your fault. You drank with them.’: Veteran, assault survivor says ‘no one gets justice until we all do’
“They sent someone to ‘keep an eye on me’ so I didn’t report it. All my medical documentation was suddenly ‘lost.’ I was laughed at and called a liar.”
‘I am not a doula to hold babies, I am a doula to hold mothers who so often come in last.’: Doula says ‘I will honor and serve these selfless women’
“While she focuses on her baby and the work she must do on this day, I will focus on her. I hold a crown in my hand and a tenderness in my heart that I give to her when she feels weak. But I do not worry, for she is everything that child needs.”
‘When a mother says she needs help, that’s exactly what she meant! She is not saying she is incapable.’: Dad urges ‘there is no human being in the world able to give up as much as a mother’
“When a mother says she’s tired, that’s all she meant! She did not say she wants to forget her baby exists. When you arrive at a mother’s disorganized house, it doesn’t mean the house is always disorganized. When you listen to a mother screaming, it doesn’t mean she just screams. She has spoken 300 times that day in a normal tone. Every day she gives up her own life, to live the life of another being.”
‘I am the Too Much woman. The one who takes up too much space. I’m too loud, too vibrant, too sensitive, too honest. And still, I rise.’: Woman urges ‘your too much-ness is a gift’
“There she is, taking up too much space with her laughter, her curves, her honesty, her sexuality. Oh, that too much woman, with her belly laughs and fiery passion. The one who loves too hard, feels too deeply, asks too often, desires too much. Her presence is as tall as a tree, as wide as a mountain. Her energy occupies every crevice of the room.”
‘To the woman in the trenches, still clawing gracefully at the sides – be proud, you are doing it.’: Woman pens appreciation letter on International Women’s Day
“To the woman who cried herself to sleep last night because the fridge is empty 3 days before payday. To the woman so unsure where life is going that fear keeps her awake at night. To the woman who woke this morning and it was her ‘day one’ for the 52nd time since New Year’s Eve, but she won’t stop fighting for it. To the woman who encourages other women. You are all doing it. Every single woman.”
‘What’s it like being a little person?’ I was touched without my consent and forced to apologize. I was so naive.’: Woman with Achondroplasia urges ‘I’m not a little person, I’m not a dwarf, I’m just Chandler’
“For so long, I thought the compliments were genuine. People would brag about how smart my brother was and be in awe over my sister’s art, while I got a pat on the head for just being…me. When I’d move my head out of the way and say, ‘Don’t pat my head,’ I got, ‘Your daughter shouldn’t talk to me like that. You should teach her manners.’ If I said ‘no’ when being asked if they could shake my hand, because they ‘always wanted to shake a little person’s hand,’ I was ‘rude.’ I felt trapped.”
‘I messed up my eyebrows so bad I drew them on for years. I shave my face and toes.’: Woman shares candid truths about her insecurities to encourage others to live authentically
“I feel like I don’t financially contribute enough to my family. I yell. A lot. I talk to God every week, but I haven’t been to church in years. I dye my hair when I’m feeling stressed.”
