Sometimes words make me feel okay.

You do not have to be good. 
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves. 
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. 
Meanwhile the world goes on.   
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain   
are moving across the landscapes,   
over the prairies and the deep trees,   
the mountains and the rivers.   
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, 
are heading home again.   
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, 
the world offers itself to your imagination, 
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place 
in the family of things.

-Mary Oliver

And by the way sweetcheeks, I'm real too.

10 points to whoever can name where that quote is from!!

But in all seriousness I wanted to discuss something that has been bothering me recently. I've seen it on several blogs, and it's getting my goat. (Ha! See what I did there?)

Girls are so MEAN to each other. SO mean. There are a few specific things that have been really hurtful to me recently that need to be talked about. So without further ado, here is a list of things we have to stop saying to each other.

***

She is so fake/I hate fake people. I'm sorry. Are they made of plastic or vinyl? Last time I checked, all of us have skin, organs, brains, and most importantly feelings. Just because someone doesn't feel comfortable "being real" with you, or would rather talk about cosmetics than emotional traumas doesn't make them fake.

 I am guilty of calling other girls and women fake. A lot of the time, it's because I'm jealous of a quality they have. They are beautiful, have a perfect body (according to me), understand how to take the perfect instagram picture and have a big following. I was recently accused of being fake, and it hurt. Really bad actually. But I'm in a different place now. I don't feel comfortable exposing my vulnerabilities to everyone, and light topics like exercise and hobbies are much easier to carry.


You don't breastfeed? You probably aren't trying hard enough. I'm going to start by saying that I don't have children, and therefore don't have much of an opinion on breastfeeding/formula feeding. I just think as long as you are feeding your child and keeping them healthy, that's what matters. I've had several friends who tried so hard to breastfeed. But they had babies in the NICU, were in school full time, or the baby simply couldn't latch, and had to formula feed.

First of all, formula is insanely expensive. I know a lot of women that wish they could breastfeed for budget reasons alone. Not only that, but I've had friend approached in the grocery store while buying formula, and told that their baby was going to be stupid or not as healthy. Or that they were selfish. Why is this socially acceptable? Why are Mama's not looking out for each other? It's insane to me.


Body Shaming/Having a "real" body. Body shaming makes me crazy. CRAZY. Some people are naturally skinny. And that's okay. Some people like working out and being muscle-y. That's okay. Some people love their fat curvy bodies. That's okay.

 Stop telling skinny girls to eat hamburgers. Stop telling fit girls they are working out too much and going to get injured (they know what they are doing a hell of a lot more than you do.) Stop telling fat curvy girls that they are lazy and unmotivated. Stop making the word fat derogatory.


***

Love each other. Be kind to one another. (:




All my love,


Alex


XOXO