(ThySistas.com) Every woman has a story. Many have faced similar hardships, and challenges that are vastly different. There are always stories of success, and those of failure. However, your life is your own narrative. It is very difficult to come into one’s self in a society that insists on telling each of us how to live, look, think, dress, and feel. Each person is born an original, yet one of the hardest things to do is embrace the truth of one’s self and life that truth. In addition to being told what to do…some surrender their power by demanding someone, or something, define them as a person…as a woman.
The problem with that logic is once someone is given power chances are they won’t want to surrender said power. Eventually, you will
want to break free as someone else is not you, and in the long run they don’t have to live with the consequences of the council they give. Your narrative is the ongoing story of your life, and no one has the right to control that narrative but you.
Many times, we face challenges, hardships, and losses that are similar to others we know. As those around you seek to offer consolation you may hear them say “I know exactly how you feel”. Over time this can become a redundant comment that rubs one wrong though it is coming from a good place. No one feels exactly the same no matter how similar the situation. The dynamics of every situation has its unique elements, and as sure as no two people are the same, not even twins, feelings will vary. Never be afraid to speak up, and acknowledge, that what you see and feel are not the same as others. Your narrative belongs to you, and it is to be respected. No amount of love and care should silence those that the care is meant to aid.
As women, it is a daily fight to get the men in leadership in this country to acknowledge the narrative of a woman’s body, and to realize they have no ownership to such. While women stand in solidarity regarding these matters women of color find themselves fighting to have their narratives acknowledged, and respected amongst white women. It is not okay to use our narrative to empower a movement while leaving us by the wayside. It is not okay to present narratives that women of color in large have faced alone, but present it as though all women suffer from said challenges. Privilege among women in this country is not the same…so our narratives differ dynamically.
I was read the book “The Handmaid’s Tale” By Margaret Atwood. I admit parts made me mad, and at different parts I cried. However, when I watched the show based on this book…having a visual I admit my mind began to think back to many different narratives primarily those of enslaved women. Though the oppression in the book touch every woman regardless of race, and some men too, I kept feeling a different story underneath. This led me to begin thinking about the power of owning one’s own narrative. Your life needs to be told, and lived by you and you alone. No one should profit from your narrative before you do, and who would profit should be up to you. As a unique, beautiful, woman walk into your grace knowing no one can walk in you heel, and see through your eyes but you. That truth in itself is powerful.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.