I’m 5’2”. I’m SUPER loud. I value not only my education, but also the education of others. I believe strongly in standing up for the things I believe in and for others. I feel that I am a great partner to Eli. I’ve had two miscarriages. I will be a mother through adoption not biology. These are just a few of the reasons why I am damn proud to be a woman.

Hey all you ladies out there! It’s hard being a woman sometimes, right? But how proud are you of being one? And you should be. It’s funny, isn’t it, that we live in the 21^st century and society still puts an incredible amount of pressure on being a woman. Think of the questions a woman gets:

–Are you EVER going to get married? (I mean, hey, maybe she is happy being single, or just hasn’t found the right person.)

-You don’t breastfeed? (Maybe she doesn’t want to. Maybe she doesn’t produce enough milk.)

-What do you mean you don’t want children? (Maybe that isn’t what she wants. She may and more importantly can be absolutely satisfied without children. Or maybe she wants them more than anything, and hasn’t been able to get pregnant.)

It’s funny because I’ve felt the weight of these questions without ever necessarily being asked a one of them. Eli and I waited quite some time to attempt to biologically have children. To be honest, we weren’t sure if we wanted to have children. It’s amazing at times how much that can baffle people, but we weren’t about to succumb to societal pressure. We stood firm and waited until we were ready and certain. And then we had two miscarriages. Approximately one out of about five women will experience a miscarriage, but the interesting thing is that we don’t talk about it much in our society. The real sentiment seems to be that you get past it and hope to get pregnant again. This is a lot of pressure to go through as a woman. Not only emotionally but physically as well.

I’ll never have the belly. I won’t breastfeed (Yes, I know that it’s possible even with adoptions. But nope, I’m not doing it). Heck, I may not even ever have a newborn. I put on a brave face a lot, but I’ll tell you, the pressure is hard. See, I’m not necessarily sad about not having any of these things, but I do feel the weight of being in a society that doesn’t always embrace, nor understand, that as a woman, as a person, we can and should and sometimes have to do things differently.

So on the eve of International Women’s Day, I am damn proud to be a woman.

It can be just that simplex because as Maya Angelou said, “I am a woman. Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.”

~Chelsea