It's Worth All of It.

I found this article on Feministing the other day, and I cannot help but feel like I wrote it myself. When you take on a title, you take on the outfit that comes with it. That outfit you wear, as a feminist or just as an activist in general usually comes with some holes or mended areas that you weren't warned about. You go in all starry eyed and hopeful, but end up learning there is more to it that just peace and love. Taking on such a role comes with both the good and the bad and the fun times and the hard. Some days you just want to give up, and feelings of frustration are all too common. 

It's on those days that you find yourself banging on the keyboard to tell your friends on Facebook just how "insert insulting adjective here" their post is, those days where someone gives you "the crazy-eyes-look" when you tell them you are a feminist, those days where you're told how you are supposed to act as a feminist, and those days when you feel that you have lost all hope in humanity are the days when I want to give up. Those are the days that push every button on your body, even ones you didn't know about. Those are the days you just wish you could turn back time and take back ever calling yourself a/an "insert any social movement that is against antique traditional societal norms here."

However, it is days like those that get you so furious that you remember why you wanted to change the world in the first place. But, do not ever let those days be an anchor to your success. You must remember to keep trudging along, and always believe that you can make that change happen. 

I noticed lately that people have been telling me that I have changed since I have been labeled as a feminist. What they don't realize is that I have always been a feminist, I just didn't know it. I never knew there was a name for what I believed in, I just thought everyone dreamt about changing the world. Although wearing the title, feminist, is new to me, it is one I enjoy. I have found a new sense of strength, self-love, and open-mindedness. I cannot say it will always be glamorous or that it always has been, but it has been worth it. 

So, on those days that you just want to give up and say "f it", don't. There's always a light at the end of the tunnel, and your effort never goes unnoticed.