Girls, Kindness & The Power of Words

Day 13: Girls, Kindness & The Power of Words

“Feminism isn’t about making women stronger. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.” – G. D. Anderson

Today, while at the gym, I overheard a man speaking to his trainer. The man said, “I’m totally acting like a girl”. He was referring to not practicing his workouts on his own. I wanted so badly to interrupt and ask him what he meant. Acting like a girl.  What does that mean anyway? Ask him if he had kids and specifically whether he had a daughter.  Ask him if he realized what kind of message he was sending out to the world by speaking that way. I had to stop myself from saying something.

Unfortunately, this was not the first time I’ve overheard men and dads speaking this way about women.  Whether that man had sons or daughters doesn’t really matter, because those kind of statements need to change in our world, especially boy world. We empower our girls and young women to believe they can do anything, but what are we teaching our boys about girls and women? Are the adult men in your life teaching your children that it’s somehow bad or weak to be like a girl, or just a girl? Let’s change the way we speak about women and girls. Words are powerful, be aware of what and how you say things.

1. Kindness to Self:

   Words have the power to hurt or to heal, to encourage or discourage and to create. Be aware of the words you say to yourself. Are they kind, loving, tender, encouraging, empowering and understanding? Take a few minutes everyday to slow down and check in with your inner-self and make sure the communication is loving and kind.

2. Kindness to Others:

   I believe that words are the most powerful form of communication, whether spoken or written. Slow down and really think about the impact of your words. Words can either encourage, compliment and be loving or they can discourage, judge or be hateful. Choose to be the kind of person that uses words to inspire and spread kindness.

3. Kindness to Strangers:

   Always choose to use words that are kind, respectful and accepting of all types of people. We are all different. Some of us are girls, some of us are mentally challenged, some of us are Muslim, some of us are homosexual, but we are all human beings and we all deserve the same amount of respect. No one is better than the other, we just have different strengths and gifts. Choose to see the gifts rather than fearing the differences.

4. Kindness to Our Planet:

   Use the power of communication, especially words, written and spoken, to promote a healthy planet.

Jennifer Palazzo

Photo Courtesy of FreeImages.com/CrissyPauley