If you are here, if you are alive, thank a woman.

International Women’s Day isn’t just for the women who are making moves and slaying each day.

It’s also for the women making do

and pushing through

just to face the day.

It isn’t just about celebrating the wins,

it’s also about acknowledging the tragedies.

The amazingness of womanhood isn’t just in the resilience,

it’s also in the sisterhood that we rely on

and know we are safe to falter in.

The achievements of women are not limited to the ones we see in the media;

the issues and women’s rights aren’t without compromise, sacrifice, and struggle.

A woman is no less of a woman when her light is temporarily flickering,

when her heart is on the line,

or when her soul is crying in ways no one can hear.

The smiling silences through which women often serve,

never revealing if they are uncertain, exhausted, or afraid,

are known and felt by other women like a truth in their veins needing no explanation.

Not to mention:

I promise you no one shows up for a woman the way another woman does.

Here’s to women around the world,

the strength it takes to be one,

the beauty in all of them,

and the love

we’re here

to give them.