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“The other day, I was texting with a new guy, and I felt the need, like I usually do, to inform him I was a bigger girl. Let’s remember: I’m the girl who writes about body positivity. I’m the girl who tells you not to feel ashamed of your size. Yet, I’m not always the girl who is there herself. I have moments where I’m not in alignment with my own written words. I’m human. I’m as much the reader on the other end looking for familiarity as I am the writer on the front end trying to give it.
So, after informing this new prospect about me being a bigger girl, he responded with a short phrase of words that shook my soul enough to make me write this. His words moved me. His words, so profound, will probably live in the category of ‘what/who changed my life.’ And never die.
‘I’m a bigger girl,’ read my text.
His response was, ‘A girl is a girl.’
There you have it: a girl is a girl.
Yes. Yes. And YES. This man, from internet land, just stripped away stigma with his phrase. He stripped away insecurity with his phrase. He stripped away doubt with his phrase. And he did all of it while telling me, and now you, to not lessen your own credibility in just five words. That’s what makes this so profound for me. I don’t know if we’ll ever become anything more than just two strangers who exchanged words the 21st century way. But I do know one thing: I will never forget him.
You may say: well, these are just words.
Don’t dismiss just words. A writer knows when words are covered in gold. When words move the soul. When words can be applied to multiple areas of life. When words can make you see so clearly after seeing through such a foggy lens for so long. Words win. And when you find the winning ones, you hold onto them for life. You share them with the world, too.
Yes, new guy, a girl is a girl. Thank you for telling me something I’ve forgotten. Or may have never known.
Thank you for filling me with confidence in a world that loves to fill me with uncertainty because I don’t fit a standard.
In just one text, you taught me, again, that a girl isn’t her size.
A girl isn’t her shortcomings.
A girl isn’t her doubts.
A girl isn’t what they say she is.
A girl isn’t defined by societal standards.
A girl isn’t here to remind you of who she is not — not a thin girl, but a big girl. Not a thick girl, but a skinny girl.
And, that a girl isn’t supposed to carry the loads from the insecure voices who once dumped their loads onto her.
A girl is a girl. Period. There’s no ‘but, I’m bigger.’ There’s no ‘but, I’m skinny.’ There’s no ‘but, I’m too tall.’
There’s just you and me, girls, in all we are wrapped into a girl.
No explanations. No lightening the blow.
As if there is even a blow to lighten. Just us. Girls. Beautiful girls.â€
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Felicia Naoum and originally appeared here. You can follow their journey on Facebook.
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