A Gentle Reminder
And this applies to all of us, no matter our race, religion, ethnicity, ability, gender or sexuality. People are people. We all deserve love and compassion, to give and receive. So when someone tries to stomp you down emotionally, verbally or physically, you get to say:
With love,
Shawna
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Don't forget, best comment on this account or @nat5an each week gets 5SBD reward.
here im gonna be the pain in da ass but I feel its essential.
I need to know and im really asking? How is it possible to create change or even just to live a fully actualized life in the face of oppression without accidentally hurting someones feelings? And when will we allow ourselves to be okay with the fact that sometimes, going into battle means getting road rage/ptsd/ etc.
I'm not making excuses for all of my personal behavior, because i know that even though i struggle with so many stupid health issues, I could be trying harder. I could be doing more of those things /tips etc instead of sitting here in my insanely messy room at 12:36 am trying to pick up the peices even though only a few people left myserver.
I know its not about me
but it really is too real. I'm not saying feel sorry for me. I'm not. IM just really asking how. Howwwwwwww do I fight the system and not rage??? HOW?
And when will my fucked up self be good enough to be allowed to move chess pieces? Why do we have to be saints?
the anarchocapitalist motto: do no harm. take no shit. its a fking oxymoron. ESPECIALLY if you are a woman.
First of all, rage. Do it. There is no reason you don't get to feel your feelings. Not feeling them hurts you, and you don't deserve to be hurt. This is about you. It's about every single one of us. And especially women because we are constantly being told to sit down and take the hurt. This is not about not protecting ourselves. We must do that in order to stop others from hurting us.
This is a tough one to parse, because you are absolutely 100% correct. Sometimes, to stop hurt, we have to fight and that means hurting someone else. Whether they deserve to hurt or not isn't the question. It's whether the way they are treating us is acceptable. If we don't stand up and say no and show we won't allow it, it keeps happening.
Anti-violence is necessarily violent. Why? The breakdown of violence is violent. Someone will always be hurt, but we must remember our own value in the process. When we do that, we can more toward the knowledge that, even when systemically oppressed, we can internally hold true to our own value. That removes power from the oppressor to harm us at the psychological level. And with the reclaiming of power comes strength to resist other abuses.
If you have to fight to stay safe, this is saying fight. Because you are important, and you have to see that first, hold to it first, insist on it first. You are already good enough. You just need to find a new perspective when you look in the mirror.
I don't believe one can do no harm and take no shit. I think one can take no shit and try to do as little harm as possible while refusing said shit, but valuing yourself sometimes means others will get hurt, and then it's their turn to honestly assess why they are hurting and what they can do to stop their pain and reclaim their power. Hopefully conversation will happen. Hopefully awakening. At the least, we have set a boundary.
For context, when I originally made this image, a person was stalking me online. It was my way of saying (again) STOP. They didn't stop, but I had claimed my power and was no longer bothered by their mind games. They don't get to hurt me. I don't deserve to be hurt, even though that's what they desperately wanted me to believe. Same as with systemic oppression. It's classic narcissism. When we stop believing the man "gets to" hurt us, we will have ripped a huge chunk of power away from the system oppressing us
Hope this ramble makes sense. BIG BIG love to you. You are beautiful and I think you need a reminder that you are worth it.
Not a ramble at all. Very much makes sense.
Love this. Love yourself first, so that your ability to love is undiminished. And put up boundaries where necessary. Blessings!
You can't pour from an empty cup. Blessings to you!
Yes indeed!
<3
Yes indeed, we need to stand tall and tap into our inner power that we all have, even under many layers it is there. Thank you for this @shawnamawna
You are wholeheartedly welcome.
This was definitely a reminder I needed today. Thank you.
<3 You are worth it.
Thank you @shawnamawna for raising your voice as a beacon of light.
Thank you for choosing to see me in such a beautiful way.
absolutely! Nobody has the right to hurt anyone
YES
Gorgeous reminder, especially to a social-media community! :) Thanks for sharing this positivity with us.
You are very welcome. It's easy to nosedive in social media.
Awesome motivational article. I Appreciate this.
Thank you!
Well said.
Thank you. <3