The Cost of Being the Strong One

Poverty doesn’t just affect the choices women make.

It affects the choices they believe they’re allowed to make.

When you’ve spent your life watching women struggle, sacrifice becomes second nature.

You learn to settle because stability feels uncertain.

You convince yourself that love is enough because you’ve never seen what security looks like.

You stay longer than you should because starting over feels more expensive than staying.

You tell yourself you’ll leave when the timing is better.

When the kids are older.

When you save more money.

When he changes.

When life slows down.

Sometimes that day never comes.

Poverty can teach women to become everything for everyone else.

To stretch every dollar.

To carry every burden.

To make impossible situations work.

Those are incredible strengths.

But strength becomes a burden when you believe you have to carry everything alone.

Survival can make self-sacrifice feel like love.

It can make exhaustion feel like purpose.

It can make choosing yourself feel selfish.

Wanting stability is not being materialistic.

Wanting peace is not asking for too much.

Wanting a partner instead of another responsibility is not selfish.

Every woman deserves the opportunity to build a life where survival isn’t the goal.

Where peace is normal.

Where love doesn’t require constant sacrifice.

Where choosing herself doesn’t come with guilt.

Because surviving hard times should never convince you that hard times are all you deserve.

Question of the Day

What’s something you’ve accepted in the name of “being strong” that you no longer want to normalize?