To the woman who can do it all, all by herself...thank you.

Thank you for showing me that I do not need to be validated by some other outside source. Thank you for showing me that my feelings are enough, and that I do not need to hide behind a mask or smile just because someone says it makes me ‘prettier’—and thank you for showing me that I am not here to ‘look pretty’ for the sake of any other person.

I have spent many days of my life feeling the pressures of having to conform to what I think everyone wants from me. It is a daunting task to look at the new Cosmo front page knowing everyone wants to be just like her, right there on the cover. From make-up and hair trends to fashion and body trends, it can be hard to not feel insecure sometimes.

To the woman who is confident beyond all measures, thank you, for showing me that I do not need to feel insecure about who I am. Thank you for showing me how to laugh at myself and to not care what others think when I laugh too loudly. Thank you for showing me that my one crooked tooth, and the freckles on my nose, are uniquely mine. Thank you for teaching me that I do not have to feel less of a woman because I do not look like the models on the covers of magazines, because honestly, the models on the covers don’t even look like that.

Being a strong woman is so much more than having to ‘deal’ with living in a place that, some argue, is just not friendly to womankind. Being a strong woman is the ability to take these challenges that are being thrown at her and turn them around into something that can benefit her to the fullest. Being a strong woman doesn’t mean you don’t cry—and thank you to the strong woman who has shown me to take pride in my tears, for every feeling I have is always valid.

Dark days have been among all of us. The days where the clouds never seem to go away, the sun isn’t shining bright enough, the music just doesn’t sound the same. I know that all of us have struggled—some more than others with everything in life. I know that for me, the dark days seemed to have no end, and I never thought that I could be in a place this good. The strong woman showed me that it was time to put it all down and walk away from my darkness. It was time to fight back when the monsters in my head were getting too loud. The strong woman showed me exactly how it felt to be loved, even when I couldn’t love myself. I have been taught how to turn my dark tunnels of ‘nothing’ into a peaceful nighttime sky, perfect for dreaming.

I have found that since I have moved away to go to college, I have bloomed in a way that I didn’t think was possible. I have met so many wonderful young women who have shown me that it is okay to walk into a place with my head held high, ready to take on the world. Confidence, which used to totally evade me, has now become something I take great pride in. And even though I am still working on it, I have the strong woman to thank for this. Nothing has shaped me into the woman I am today more than being able to say ‘this is who I am, and I am proud of her’.

More than the emotionally strong woman, to the strong woman with the athletic abilities, thank you also. Thank you for showing me that I can do it; that I can push myself to one more rep, one more set, or one more run. Being strong is beautiful, having muscles is beautiful, not looking like a fitness model is beautiful, and then again, looking like a fitness model is also beautiful. It has been so easy to sit on Instagram for hours thinking to myself: "Wow look at her legs, she is so beautiful because she works out so much. I wish I could look like that."

Every day, the Strong Woman shows me how easy it is to turn around and reflect on my day, on myself in the mirror and say to myself: "Wow, look at me, I have made progress with." Even to say, "Wow I have done so much today, go, me!", has become so much easier, thanks to the Strong Woman.

Every woman is a strong woman in her own way, and I am constantly learning new things every day from strong women. Thank you for showing me that it is okay to know how I want to be treated and to not stand for anything less; thank you for showing me that high standards are good, and that sometimes knowing what I want may intimidate people, but that I should never change the way that I am because of it. I have been thrown into a ray of confidence radiating from all of the women that I meet—even if they don’t know it yet.

My only goal now is to become like the strong women, and to bring all others up with me. We can do this. So, thank you to the strong woman for showing me that we are all beautiful people even on our darkest days.