Even the strongest girls get tired of their responsibilities. They get tired of taking care of themselves all the time, they forget about appointments they’ve made and bills they have to pay. They get tired of the independent life they chose to live. They get tired of everyone’s expectations and the number of people counting on them. They get tired of it all but they can’t find the courage to ask for help because the world expects them to be fine without any help. The world expects them to overcome everything on their own.
Even the strongest girls need love. They don’t like loneliness, they don’t like rejection, they don’t like being the man and the woman in their own lives, they don’t like being their own hero. They always save their own day, lift themselves up, be their own best friend and sometimes their biggest fan but they want to remember what it’s like to have someone do that for them every once in a while. They miss the support and the comfort of having a man to lean on, a man by their side, a man reminding them that they don’t have to do everything alone. They get tired of the emotional labor they have to put in to lift themselves up — sometimes they just need a helping hand.
Even the strongest girls break down. When they’ve had enough, when they’ve been strong for too long and they just can’t do it anymore. When they can’t get out of bed because their hearts are heavy, when they can’t think clearly anymore because their minds are scattered and their thoughts are messed up. When they feel like everything they’ve ever worked for is falling apart and when they feel like their strength is often their curse, not their blessing.
Even the strongest girls need a break. They need someone to lead the way. They need to know that they don’t have to do this forever. They need life to slow down so they can recharge their batteries to keep going. They need to feel that it’s okay to be vulnerable and ask for help and admit that some things are more than they can handle. They need to feel like they’re human beings too, not just robots expected to always be fine and do things right and walk away and stay positive.
Even the strongest girls feel drained. From everything they have to do to keep that label and everything they have to do to continue living their best lives without people taking them for granted or walking all over them.
Even the strongest girls get tired of being so strong because it was never something they were born with, it was something they had to develop because of all the hardships they had to face and all the challenges they had to overcome and all the heartbreaks they had to endure.
Even the strongest girls miss who they used to be before the world taught them how to become someone else, before the world taught them the art of being alone because people always leave and before the world taught them that counting on others will always end up in disappointment.
By Rania Naim for ThoughtCatalog