You risk stigma of any kind when you go against the grain of what’s accepted in society.
Yet I do not think what’s commonly accepted in society is normal. I do not think stigma against individuals diagnosed with mental illnesses is normal. Stigma is a disease society needs to heal from.
It’s women’s history month. All through history women who dared flout convention were burned at the stake either literally or figuratively.
Today those of us who do our own thing are also attacked. I used to be friends with a woman who kept attacking me. She insinuated I was a freak because I was happy as a single person.
It’s true that often women bash other women. I stopped being friends with a women because she kept attacking me. In the spirit of this month that is focused on women’s history I want to give a shout out to all women who in our lives have been attacked because we dared do our own things and dared be happy.
Dare to be happy with your life. Dare to be happy with who you are. You will only make yourself miserable trying to conform to society’s dictates just to prove to other people you are normal.
Women bashing other women has to stop. Pronto. You deserve to be treated with dignity not shit on and reduced to tears. Sometimes, in life and in recovery, each of us needs to walk away from people who are emotionally abusive to us or abusing us in any other way.
Women have the power to do great things.
We need to celebrate each other and lift each other up.
Remember: you can achieve great things regardless of whether you wear stilettos and are banging every guy you meet. You are a great person all by yourself regardless of what others think of you.
Celebrate instead of hate. That’s the way to live.
Left of the Dial 