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Being a woman in this world is often a hard thing. For those difficult days, we bring you these 12 positive quotes for women - know that this too will pass!
Being a woman in this world is often a hard thing. For those difficult days, we bring you these 12 positive quotes for women – know that this too will pass!
Picture this: The indifference your boss shows when you present your idea passionately, the one you worked to perfection while keeping an eye on your sick child all night.
The deep interest your co-worker shows in your personal life, eavesdropping on the conversation with your mom that you can’t have at home.
The disapproval in your in-laws’ eyes as you walk out the home in your favourite fitted dress, not the tent they like. The lack of spark in your husband’s eyes when he sees you in that very same dress.
The endless chatter in your head as your child holds your love handles and it doesn’t fit in his palm. Oh, so many messages for women in every subtle nuance of society’s machinations!
Some days we just want to scream and throw a tantrum or simply walk away into the breeze outside shutting the door hard behind us. But let’s be honest – instead, we instead weep silently, blow our noses discreetly, compose ourselves and bring out our smiling selves.
Why? Because we are women – tantrums and stormy exits are not for us. Society never stops pointing out overtly and covertly that we are women and so we have to keep things together no matter what. Oh, and if we break down, there society goes again, “Typical woman. The waterworks are on!”
Amidst the scores of messages that govern a woman’s place in society, what if at least a few were positive messages for women? Positive messages that tell her that she has the strength the grit and the resilience – has she not faced this constant undermining and yet managed to thrive? Positive messages for women that will remind her that she is human first and she has always had what it takes.
So my dear sisters, here is a collection of 12 positive quotes for women. Gathered from inspiring women themselves, women who have had the courage to be themselves in a society that constantly censored them. They have often helped me tide over those impossible days. Am sure they will resonate with you too. Take your pick and let it pick you up!
“If you try to please everyone, you will please no one. It is impossible to lead your life for others’ happiness.” – Sudha Murthy
This is one positive quote that every Indian woman should chant to herself like a mantra. There is no joy in sacrificing too much and becoming miserable yourself. You have every right to the joy that you are expected to give to others.
“It’s not your job to be likeable. It’s your job to be yourself.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Who we are to ourselves comes before who we are to others in our lives and in the end, it is worth questioning if we are anything to society at all – what makes it society’s business to show us our place?
Why not let me speak in Any language I like? The language I speak, Becomes mine… It is as human as I am human, don’t You see?
Each one of us has a voice within, one that is very natural to us, buried deep beneath layers of societal conditioning. We have to honour ourselves by finding it and learning to speak.
“You don’t have to love me, but you damn well respect me.” – Toni Morrison
How often have we allowed our self respect to be trampled upon, in the name of love? In the end is it worth it? Is love even possible without respect? Let us demand respect first.
“If you want to do something, what does it matter where you are ranked?” Kalpana Chawla
Desire, hard work, excellence – none of these have anything to do with rank or status or gender. Believe in yourself and set out to achieve your goals!
“What if I fall? Oh but my Darling, what if you fly?” – Erin Hanson
This is one of the most positive quotes for women that I have come across. Somehow, being a woman in our society means being conditioned to fear the vastness of the world outside. But unless we risk it, we will never realize that we can actually fly!
“I have always thought of myself first as a human being and then as a woman.” – Ismat Chughtai
Simple though it may sound, we often forget that we are human beings and to err is the most human thing. Mistakes, failures are good – they are opportunities to learn, not excuses to punish!
“I have some courage to be what I am, and I don’t see my faults as faults — I see them as characteristics; strengths too. Why not, if you realise that you are only a human being.” – Kamala Das
These days being a woman is synonymous with being Superwoman – you have to do it all and do it perfectly. But why? Courage lies in being able to recognize our vulnerabilities, accepting them and transforming them into strengths.
“There is no more creative force in the world than the menopausal woman with zest.” – Margaret Mead
Menopause becomes the fall-gal for everything that falls outside the ambit of acceptable societal norms. It is so unfair, that it is laughable! Zest is a word I would love to associate with menopause.
“But women have lust too.” – Sylvia Plath
Somehow our society denies us women this simple human pleasure – lust, as though it is the birthright of men alone. Next time you dream of hot steamy sex, don’t feel guilty and don’t hesitate to ask for it.
“Once I asked God for one or two extra inches in height, but instead he made me as tall as the sky, so high that I could not measure myself.” – Malala Yousafzai.
We are as great as we perceive ourselves to be. We have been blessed with everything we need within us. This attitude of gratitude alone will take us far in our journey of life.
“Our backs tell stories no books have the spine to carry.” – Rupi Kaur
In the end, if you are a woman you have a story – you have every right to exist and tell that story in your own unique way, whether to yourself or to the world out there.
I hope you found a positive quote that picked you up as a woman and held you high as a beacon to this world! As Simone de Beauvoir would say, One is not born but rather becomes a woman – let us celebrate our becoming from ‘the musk of sweat between the breasts, the warm shock of menstrual blood, (to fulfilling all our) endless female hungers’ for everything that life has to offer and then some more!
Images via Wikimedia Commons or respective author websites
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