Early in my youth, my childhood was very normal for the time period. My mom was stay at home mom while my father worked. She made all of our meals from scratch, hung our clothes out to dry to save money on electricity, helped us with our homework, read books to us at night, baked cookies, and grew a garden. Later in life, my father was injured and my mother took "what she knew" and became a housekeeper to support our family. After he recovered, they both continued to work together in the business my mom established.
Through this I learned perseverance, responsibility and independence. I remember a critical point when I was about seven when I realized that tears were a weakness and using them would not change things or get me what I wanted. I've hated to cry ever since. Emotions left you vulnerable. It was much safer to suppress them and not have to rely on anyone.
I had always wanted to keep up with the boys, but I began down a road of striving to be as good as them if not better. I prided myself on my ability to throw the football as well as they could, to chase down a pop fly, to glory in my scabs and bruises and how I got them.
I think there are a lot of women out there like me. We don't need a man. We possibly know more about our cars than you do, can change our own oil and a flat tire. We can balance our check book. We'll work multiple jobs if that's what needs to be done to make ends meet. We don't mind traveling alone. We're perfectly capable of setting up a tent, starting a fire and aren't scared of things that go bump in the night. We can mow the lawn, wield an ax, fix a broken pipe, handle killing small rodents and even take out the trash. I'm proud of being a strong woman. I wouldn't want to be co-dependent. However…
No one told me going down this road was going to completely backfire on me.
No one told me that men flock to the damsel in distress vibe like sharks react to blood.
Just because I don't need a man, doesn't mean I don't need a Man. I'm not talking about sexually, because there are solutions for that…lots of them. Those of us that are strong and independent need emotional support. Even if we have trouble admitting it.
We're dying inside.
Worse, we'll justify with ourselves that we're fine. We're always fine.
I read that when people drown they don't actually flail around screaming and calling for help like they portray in the movies. It's actually when they're quiet and still that they're probably drowning. How To Identify Drowning (Fascinating article; check it out if you spend much time around water.)
I guess, bottom line what I'm saying is, before you go play hero to rescue that
Guys..I'd really like YOUR feedback on this.
