“Sometimes you’ll just be too much woman. Too smart, too beautiful, too strong. Too much of something. That makes a man feel like less of a man, which will start making you feel like you have to be less of a woman. The biggest mistake you can make is removing jewels from your own crown to make it easier for a man to carry. When this happens, I need you to understand, you do not need a smaller crown—you need a man with bigger hands.” ~ Michael Reid

This is for the women who go to bed each evening feeling like they are just too damn much for a world that likes its women small and manageable.

The biggest mistake that you can ever make is trying to make yourself seem less amazing than you truly are.

I understand that when you constantly hear the word “no” that it seems like you won’t ever hear “yes,” but I promise that you will.

The fault doesn’t lie within you, but in others not being to handle the full throttle greatness that you shine upon this world.

The truth is, there is no such thing as too much.

Because you are just enough.

You are enough simply because you are yourself.

It has taken me many years of lessons compacted within just a few moments to realize this about myself.

While at times I have shrunken myself and almost completely disappeared, the truth is, even when I did become smaller and more manageable, I still was too much for the wrong men.

That is the lesson that each of our hearts needs to learn with their own timing—that for the right person, we won’t ever be too much.

“The woman who stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” ~ Maya Angelou

I know that your wild, cage free spirit sometimes seems like it just can’t fit into this world—that you dream of a life that most can’t even imagine.

But hold onto those dreams, because they are your compass pointing you due north.

And someday you will learn where they were leading you all along.

The truth is, strong women can only make weak people feel insecure.

But being strong isn’t about being infallible, it’s about being so comfortable with ourselves that we are real, each and every day.

Not everyone can handle our unapologetically realness, and that is okay.

We may not always like the hand we are dealt, but we are still going to bluff and play the sh*t out of it anyway, regardless of winning.

We know that we are the only ones who can decide when to fold.

“A strong woman looks a challenge dead in the eye and gives it a wink.” ~ Gina Carey

We know deep down that we aren’t too much, but everyone around us continually makes us doubt our own truth.

And it is only because we give them the permission to do so.

Instead we need to take back our power.

We need to rise like the goddamn phoenixes who we are, from the scared ashes of our mistakes, and claim each and every one of our radiant qualities and crazy dreams.

Because only when we have fully embraced ourselves, can we truly realize that we will never be too much.

We can’t be too much woman when we are exactly the woman who we are meant to be.

If we can let go and dissolve the boxes we have been told to live within, then we can realize just how far we can truly fly.

It’s okay to be amazing—to be courageous and beautiful.

And it’s okay to not settle—actually, we owe it to ourselves to never do that.

Because you, my queen, are simply meant for more.

The women who feel like they are too much, sometimes seem that way because they were born to shake up this world.

You are here to encourage others to rise to your greatness and standards—not the other way around.

You are here to be yourself—to stretch those beautiful wings and see how much you can accomplish when you decide that you are going to dance to the beat of your own courageous heart.

The thing is though, you may make other people feel uncomfortable because they will feel threatened by your light.

They don’t understand that just because you shine bright, doesn’t mean that they can’t as well.

But the biggest mistake you can ever make is letting someone else make you feel like less than the woman you truly are.

Whether it’s your lover, a friend or even family member—not everyone will understand your song, but it’s not your job to translate it for them.

It’s not even your responsibility to change it so that it sounds more like theirs.

The only work you should be doing is singing as loudly and richly as you can, so that all those who haven’t yet found their voice will be inspired to do so.

“A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman.” ~ Melinda Gates

Too much woman?

Ha, there is no such thing.

Because the women who walk with greatness know that we can’t ever have too many amazing, soul rich sisters walking this planet beside us.

There are great brothers out there, who know that there is no such thing as too much woman, who desire to dance with their equal.

I promise you my queen, there is a man out there who will not only celebrate the woman you currently are, but will encourage you to fly even higher.

Because he will realize that it’s not your weakness that makes him feel more like a man, but your greatness.

He will understand that the truest mark showing the kind of man who he is, can be seen in the woman who is beside him.

So take a deep breath my beautiful, strong woman and stretch those magnificent wings as far as you can.

Be the woman who you were meant to be, without trying to fit yourself into a life that is smaller than you deserve.

And always stay true to your heart, because I promise you that as long as you are being yourself, you my queen will never be too much.

Ever.

“A strong woman builds her own world. She is one who is wise enough to know that it will attract the man she will gladly share it with.” ~ Ellen Barrier

~

Relephant:

Author: Kate Rose

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: Unsplash/ Brook Cagel