Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve

by Drew Afualo

“If I open the door to trust, then I have to actually trust them.”

in your rush to grow up, you never forget the child you once were—

Thinking about what an emotional load women carry every day purely because even at the end of their ropes they can’t bear the thought of upsetting other people? It breaks my heart. It makes me angry. It strengthens my conviction.

How could I expect the women around me, whom I admire and love so dearly, to ditch these loser-ass men and truly see themselves as the bad bitches I saw, if I didn’t hold myself to that same standard?

Give yourself the permission to love yourself unconditionally, because there’s nothing more radical in the eyes of the patriarchy than that

it’s not okay for any of us to be spending a crippling amount of time or energy trying to cultivate the image that we think will positively affect how the patriarchy perceives our bodies.

what I know now is that if it isn’t a fuck yes, it’s a no. There’s no waffling about bringing life into the world—

We are so quick to assume that we’re exclusively at fault when bad stuff happens that we overcompensate by taking the fall for everything, to the overall detriment of our happiness and well-being.

Who was I if I couldn’t succeed at the goals that I had used for years to define who I was and what I wanted in life?

Why shouldn’t you correct someone who mispronounces your name? Or hands you the wrong drink order? Of course this isn’t indicative of their character off the bat, but it is indicative of how you see yourself. Why do you think you aren’t worthy of basic respect?