“…Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise…”Maya Angelou
We rise.
This is not another post with tips to manage your life better, and “suck it up”, and “just be fearless”. Because if you’re like us, you don’t have time for fluffy pep talks.
Because women who are truly strong do cry and shake their fists at injustices and are aware of their failures and insecurities and scream “why” in frustration. But despite our hardships, as Maya Angelou said so eloquently above, strong women rise.
We may be labeled as victims of abuse, assault, injustice, fraud…and maybe we are victims, but more importantly, we are victorious victims. This really is possible- just recently, hundreds of women rose up to press charges against USA olympic gymnastics team doctor for sexual abuse. Their words give us goosebumps.
Photos courtesy of Buzzfeed.
Sadly, everyone has something…some hardship or season they have faced. But take the lessons learned and move forward. And forgive, whether they deserve it or not, because choosing forgiveness does not mean being a “doormat”, it means finally letting your heart be free from bitterness.
Let your hardship be your fuel. And then strike a match. Because anyone can overcome the prison of their birth, circumstances, or insecurities. Don’t let your past steal your future.
We do good.
Who doesn’t love a double-dose of Maya-inspo?! Because she is right. It is not always easy, profitable, or comfortable to be a strong woman. In fact, it’s easy to be weak- to harden your heart instead of handling your hardship, to make excuses, to cut corners. But as Maya’s granny said, “Sister, you know what’s right. Just do right”. Maybe sometimes we make it too complicated.
And part of doing good is channeling our hurt into loving hard. Throw your life into seeking the good in others and moving toward them instead of putting walls up. It is recognizing and loving the good in ourselves and dispelling the lies that we’ve allowed to take hold in our hearts. These changes may take time and effort. We know your hands are full ( hi, us too ?), but shifting our focus makes our hearts even fuller than our hands.
Rise up + do good
Strong woman reading this: rise up + do good, whatever that looks like for you.
For us, it means meeting women faced with unplanned pregnancies right where they are- in the fear, frustration, and confusion. We want to make it simple for them– no matter the decisions of the past, now it comes down to three options: abortion, adoption, or parenting and we not only provide information but real services to help women sort through it all. If there is ever a moment when we are not giving our clients truth and love and compassion in a moment when they need it most, then we have failed. So we will keep moving out toward the women in our community and push our hearts upward.
Upward and outward, we will rise.
Appointments // Abortion // Adoption // Parenting // Services
Share this Post