Читать книгу Badass Affirmations - Becca Anderson - Страница 11

In a day and age when women are still fighting for equal pay for equal (and sometimes—dare I say—better) work, it’s easy to see how we might have trouble with our self-esteem. After all, we’re still shaking off the side effects of hundreds of years of training to be seen but not heard, to serve but not be served. But thanks to modern feminism, women are again fighting back against the archaic, “traditional” idea that a woman’s role is to simply be an in-home cook, personal maid, and smiling living-room ornament—today, we women tackle work and play, motherhood and muscle, beauty and bossiness. After all, what better quality than bossiness is there for the accomplished bosses and leaders of the world?

Affirmation Station

I am confident.

I am strong.

I am powerful.

And confidence is not a new feminine trait. In fact, it’s been around for just as long as suppression has. Look at anyone from the biblical Esther to France’s Joan of Arc and ask yourself whether they didn’t walk with their shoulders back and their heads held high, even with the limited power afforded to them by their patriarchal societies. And they aren’t the only ones to take hold of power despite being looked down upon just for their gender. After all, the longest-reigning British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, happens to be both female and still on top, and the United Kingdom isn’t the only sovereign state to have had a woman in charge. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was elected President of Liberia in 2006, was Africa’s first elected chief executive—and when her term ended in 2018, she left her post peacefully and gave Liberia its first peaceful transition of power since 1944. And Ellen Johnson Sirleaf isn’t the only symbol for African women taking up the reins of democracy—women in Rwanda, although they still face terrible challenges, make up well over half of the Rwandan legislature. Women have ruled all over, from places like the pre-United States kingdom of Hawaii to Nigeria and Egypt to France and Spain to China, India, and Russia. They didn’t let the men (and even the other women) looking down on them keep them down.

Affirmation Station

I am capable.

I am a leader.

I go after what I want.

It doesn’t take a monarch to have confidence, though. Anyone can know their own worth, as the wide range of women quoted below will show you. These women know who they are, they accept who they are, and they love who they are—and you can too. No one has to tell you that just surviving in this world full of violence and negativity is an accomplishment, but you do have to tell yourself. You need to affirm your dignity every day, to remind yourself that you are capable of anything and everything you set your mind to. Because, let’s face it—you are.

Affirmation Station

I am successful.

I am worthy.

I respect myself.

You are just like the women quoted below. You will not bow. You will not be changed against your will. You will not be moved. Because deep down, we both know that who you are is exactly who you’re supposed to be.

I thank God I am endowed with such qualities that if I were turned out of the Realm in my petticoat I were able to live in any place in Christendom.

—Elizabeth I, Queen of England for forty-four years, who casually steered England through one of its most peaceful and prosperous times, all while charming her people and cleverly evading claims of feminine inadequacy; she vowed to never lose her head in love after seeing and learning about the painful love life of her mother and, especially, her father

I’m so popular it’s scary sometimes. I suppose I’m just everybody’s type.

—Catherine Deneuve, an Academy Award-nominated French actress whose international career has stretched for over half a century

In spite of honest efforts to annihilate my I-ity, or merge it in what the world doubtless considers my better half, I still find myself a self-subsisting and alas! self-seeking me.

—Jane Welsh Carlyle, eighteenth-century author known for her wit and sass; she wrote her first novel (and a five-act tragedy!) while still in her teenage years

Some people say I’m attractive. I say I agree.

—Cybill Shepherd, actress and the winner of three Golden Globe awards; she began singing at the age of five and hasn’t let anyone or anything stop her since

I am growing handsome very fast indeed! I expect I shall be the belle of Amherst when I reach my 17th year. I don’t doubt that I shall have perfect crowds of admirers at that age. Then how I shall delight to make them await my bidding, and with what delight shall I witness their suspense while I make my final decision.

—Emily Dickinson, voluntary recluse and writer of nearly eighteen hundred poems; though she never cared much whether they were published, her family and close friends did (to our great benefit!)