Be the best version of yourself. Have a personal brand. Sell yourself. But stay authentic. Have you listened to this podcast yet? Eat your greens. Be an activist. Speak up. But not too much, you have to still be polite. Move to new places. Have new experiences. Find someone and settle down. Be hairless from the neck down. Say you’re doing it for yourself, not for men. Be attractive, but not too much. Be sweet. Be smart. Go to yoga. Go to therapy. Have a routine. Be independent and strong and ambitious. But don’t be intimidating. Be in your bag, have a hot girl summer, a healed girl summer, be in your ____ era and just vibe! Also don’t forget to be totally unique! Recycle and share the right posts on Instagram. You have to have children, because that’s ‘just the best’ but of course you can also not have children, but definitely freeze your eggs because you don’t want any regrets do you? Call your mum and see your friends and have weekend plans. Cut people off who inconvenience you. You don’t need that negativity in your life. Go on two holidays a year. Be edgy. Question everything but live as if you don’t.
I am tired of cooking every single day. I am tired of thinking about what to cook every single day. I am tired of having to make money doing something I love. I am tired of influencers on the internet. I am tired of seeing people still live on the streets while the prime minister renovates his mansion again. I am tired of meeting new people. I am tired of moving house. I am tired of men. I am tired of coaches capitalising on vulnerabilities. I am tired of the rat race. I am tired of people who lie. I am tired of wearing a bra. I am tired of shaving my legs. I am tired of having to be attractive. I am tired of cowardliness. I am tired of living without people I love. I am tired of walking the same streets every day. I am tired of waiting for some day soon. I am tired of buying toilet paper every week. I am tired of hearing the same words everywhere. I am tired of your era, your whatever girl summer and your vibes. I am tired of my water bottle definitely not saving the planet. I am tired of Netflix. I am tired of not having the capacity I want to have. I am tired of people who play devils advocate when they have no stakes in the game. I am tired of knowing there is injustice that I cannot change. I am tired of cleaning the dust bunnies from my floors. I am tired of fake politeness. I am tired of being punished for speaking up. I am tired of the fact that I am not allowed to say I am tired. I am tired of feeling tired.
Oh woman, I feel that. Again, your art of putting the words onto something specific - a tiredness that floats (often) unspoken around so many women I know, myself included. It felt like a relief to read all that.
I stopped shaving my legs regularly a few years ago when my now husband said he couldn’t care less. 😂 Still crazy to think that a man had to say that for me to take that freedom. I often don’t even bother now when I go to the beach or the public pool, which admittedly (alarmingly? sadly?) would probably be different if I were single. Also... if it weren’t for my dear man who’s often up for cooking, we would eat frozen pizza for dinner... a lot. 🥳
Yes this ❤️ fuck it all.