View this post on Instagram

 

Once you’ve bitten into the apple that is feminism, you will awaken, and there’s no way you can look at the world the way you did before.

While being asleep and unaware may have made for an ”easier” life and a more ”likable” you, being a feminist may mean life is even tougher and you are not that ”likable” anymore.

Here’s how it changed me:

1. I can’t enjoy most of the ”jokes” forwarded on social media, the ”comedy shows” on TV, or some of the ”funny scenes” in movies.

2. I don’t second-guess myself anymore, don’t ask people if I was being “sensitive,” if I “over-reacted,” or if I did the right thing. I trust my feelings and my thoughts and my intuition.

3. I am not gaslight-able anymore.

4. I am not emotionally blackmail-able anymore.

5. I say no without guilt.

6. I am 80 percent free from the ‘’what will people think’’ mindset that had dominated my life till now.

7. I stand up for myself, even if it means disappointing/hurting the ones I love.

8. I’ve become more confident about my ability to provide for myself and live a fulfilling life with or without a man.

9. I am raising my son to be in touch with both his masculine and feminine side.

10. I’ve started learning more about caste oppression, racism, LGBTQIA+, and transgender rights.

11. I don’t look at marriage as a validation of my worth or as security for life anymore.

12. I am more in touch with my feminine side.

13. I read even more books!

14. I have made even more women friends online and offline.

15. I like myself a lot more.

16. Even when someone doesn’t like me, it doesn’t affect my self-image.

17. I look at my mother with more understanding of how she must have struggled in her life and more pride for what she has achieved.

18. Even if I have not met all of them, I have deep compassion towards my foremothers. In spite of all the limitations that surround me, I am aware that I have far more freedom and privilege than generations of women before me. I often feel like their spirits live vicariously through me, cheering me on, wanting me to live in a way that they wanted but couldn’t.

19. I am more grateful to the feminists who came before me because I am aware that what I enjoy today is because of their struggles.

20. I have started loving the way I look with my existing weight, greying hair, thunder thighs, and Winnie-the-Pooh-belly.

21. I take full responsibility for my finances and educate myself about taxes, investments, savings, and other financial things. I don’t think someone else (a knight in shining armor) will do it for me.

As you can see, these are things that are easier said than done. But you will change and your life will change, for better or for worse, but you wouldn’t want to go back to your previous way of being and living ever again.

~