Too soft.
Too hard.
Too much.
Say less.
Speak up.
Hold it all in.
Smile more.
Ooze confidence.
Don’t take up space.
Be strong, but not like that.
Be wild, but reign yourself in.
Be a boss, but don’t be a b*tch.
Nurture others.
Nurture yourself, too.
Don’t let anyone see you cry.
Prep the dinners.
Pack the lunches.
Get the kids to school on time.
Be pretty, but not too pretty.
You’re look so skinny lately.
Have you tried intermittent fasting?
Too quick off the mark.
Too slow on the uptake.
Too quiet in meetings.
Nah, ignore the noise.
The din.
The lies.
Here’s the truth:
We’re enough.
All of us.
We always have been.
Always will be.
No one is the same two days in a row.
No days are the same back to back.
Everything’s made up.
Especially rules.
Break them or they’ll break you.
Like hearts & spirits.
They’ll crumble.
Rebuild.
Let’s reframe a gendered world.
And stop labeling
heartbeats.
Here’s to us.
As we are.
As we were.
As we’ll become.
To the feminine.
To the masculine.
To the fluid.
To the dysphoric.
To the evolving.
To the tearing down.
Dress how you want.
Move how you want.
Love your life with your whole heart.
March to the beat of it.
Sway to the music.
Of blood rushing.
Take a chance.
And ask someone else:
“Wanna dance?”