This week I was sitting in the library when I overheard a group of girls talking. (I’m accidentally on purpose the worst eaves dropper ever). I discovered they were discussing a girl they knew while analyzing her Instagram page. Comments were being made left and right about how “her hair looked bad” in that one and how “her thighs look huge” in this one. I listened to these comments continuously pour out of their perfectly glossed lips until one came to the concluding remark stating, “She’s so pretty like she’s almost ugly.” I hysterically began to burst into an unapologetic laughter revealing my position as the stranger participating in the conversation.
Now I’m not here to play preacher because I have found myself in this same situation more times than I can count. I.e., my apologies to Corrinne on Nick’s season of the Bachelor.
But it got me thinking, isn’t this so silly? Aren’t we all tired of this?
I know in high school I always felt the need to be “better than her.” Her as in the girl in my math class, gym, the one who sits next to the big tree at lunch. Any and every girl. This comes from our innate intention to be the best us we can be, which doesn’t become a bad thing until we start having to pull each other down to get there.
So, girls. Gals. Fellow boob buddies and the 80-year-old grandma who lives accross my street; remember:
WE ARE NOT HERE TO COMPETE WITH ONE ANOTHER.
So often we feel pressured by the ones around us to have better hair or receive higher grades or purchase the shinier shoes.
STOP.
We have been forced into unity the minute we receive our second x chromosome. How else are we supposed to get through all these gross boys, terrible hair days and mood swings? We weren’t made to critique and discourage each other along the way. We exist to rejoice in each other’s success and encourage each other in our individualistic trends.
Girl Power is not about one of us rising above the other. Girl Power is loving each other despite our similar or different insecurities, flaws and heartbreaks. Girl Power is recognizing we all stem from the same place and without each other’s support, we will inevitably stumble to the ground. We are here to love and be loved.
HERE’S TO THE GALS.