Dear Journal,
Do you ever doubt yourself on some of the key aspects of your life? There have been so many moments where I've doubted the whole point of Girl Talk. I have definitely encountered many roadblocks along the way, and it's in these moments where I feel like maybe it's just not worth it. Maybe I had the wrong idea. Maybe girls don't really need this message.
And then I get a phone call from my best friend in tears. Then I'm comforting a girl whose insecurities are completely strangling her. And then I have a student approaching me for help for her roommate who was sexually assaulted.
Then I remember why I girl talk.
Because these women need an outlet. They need to know they are loved. They need real support. And that's what we're doing with Girl Talk Strides. Supporting women every step of the way!
Regardless of her situation, be it struggles with body image, heartbreak, loneliness, or self-worth, every woman deserves support through sisterhood. I remember my residents junior year sharing how they felt all alone. They would say things like "Oh, if only I had hair like HER, then he would notice me...Julie, I feel so ugly, I can't even look in the mirror in the morning...I'm just not sure if people got to know the real me that they would even like me..." Kind of makes me think of 13-year-old Jennifer Gardner in 13 Going on 30..."I just want to be THIRTY and FLIRTY and THRIVING!!!" That whole idea of the grass is always greener. It's so easy for us to compare our bodies and our personalities and our status to other women who we think have it all together. But guess what? We are loveable exactly as we are. Never too much, and always enough.
I stride for every woman who has ever doubted herself. For the friends who continually help me quell my own insecurities. For every girl to know her inherent worth and value.
So next week, with the launch of our Girl Talk Strides walk-a-thon (wooo!!!) I want to be thirty, flirty...and STRIDING! (Ok, the thirty and flirty part aren't really applicable...well maybe we'll leave just one of them in there...just for fun!)
Yours,
Julie
