By: JANA GREENE

if you have been a nice girl all your life…

towing the line of society’s expectations,

putting others’ needs first,

and people-pleasing to the inth degree…

This internet stranger wants to remind you:

You’re allowed to raise your voice

above a peep.

You are allowed to be a megaphone

for those who don’t have a voice at all.

You are allowed to question authority,

expect revolt, and welcome liberation.

You are allowed to use

your feminine energy

copiously and without apology,

in the healing yourself and others.

You are allowed to listen inwardly,

and trust your own intuition,

because you are literally divine.

You are allowed to snap off

a generational curse

like a dead twig on a magnificent Oak,

perfect kindling the fire of revolution

inside you.

You are allowed to be wild and free

with your good intentions.

To choose love,

to howl at the moon

or dance without shame,

to treat yourself with respect and honor.

You are allowed to accept your body

as a holy temple,

in whatever state of magnificence

you find it.

Its dimpled thighs and ample belly,

hands like our grandmother’s now,

wrinkled by time

and caring for others.

Your temple,

it’s a home for your soul after all.

You are allowed to ask what the hell happened

to this haphazard and wounded world,

and to start revolution

with the voice you raise over a peep.

And until you can give yourself permission

to howl, and dance,

and radically accept yourself,

and link arms with your sisterhood, girl.

Allow yourself the respect

that you grant others,

the vibrations of your love

 rippling out in a broken world,

and returning to you.

Now go rock the boat, sister,

because you matter,

and you’re allowed to bask

in the knowing

that you have worth.