Showing posts with label authenticity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label authenticity. Show all posts

Friday, December 19, 2025

Free Me From the “Girl’s Girl” Label


I want to say this carefully, because nuance matters.

I’m not anti-women.
I’m not anti-sisterhood.
I’m not anti-community.

However, I am deeply uninterested in performative labels that don’t align with my actual behavior.

Somewhere along the way, “girl’s girl” became a badge people wear instead of a practice they live. And in my experience, many of the loudest claims of sisterhood have come from spaces that felt unsafe, competitive, passive-aggressive, or quietly cruel.

I’ve learned that not every woman who smiles at you is for you.
Not every “sis” is safe.
And not every space labeled empowering actually empowers.

And that truth doesn’t make me bitter.
It makes me discerning.

I no longer need to be called a girl’s girl.
I need integrity.
I need emotional maturity.
I need accountability.
I need women who can celebrate without comparison, support without competition, and communicate without manipulation.

I’ve been in rooms where the language was “support,” but the energy was envy.
Where the connection felt conditional.
Where success made people uncomfortable.
Where vulnerability was collected, it was not protected.

And I’ve also been blessed by women who showed up quietly, consistently, and without performance. Women who didn’t need to announce their loyalty. Women who didn’t need a label to be decent.

That’s the difference.

Real sisterhood doesn’t need branding.
It needs character.

I also noticed something else this year, and I paid attention.

When I got engaged, the energy shifted with certain women. Subtle at first. Then obvious. Women who once checked in consistently when I was single and healing suddenly went quiet. The “hey sis” texts slowed down. The likes disappeared. The shares stopped. The calls became nonexistent.

So I did what I always do: I observed.

I went ghost from social media for a few months, not to test anyone, but to protect my peace and heal from my breakup. And in that silence, patterns revealed themselves. Support that once felt abundant evaporated the moment my life expanded. And that told me everything I needed to know.

I realized some people weren’t connected to me; they were connected to a version of me that felt non-threatening. A version they could relate to, advise, or feel superior to. When that version evolved, so did their discomfort.

I didn’t confront.
I didn’t explain.
I didn’t announce anything.

I simply peeped the energy and did a full sweep.

No warnings. No speeches. Just boundaries.

Because I’m not in competition with anyone. I’m not auditioning for space in anyone’s life. And I refuse to stay connected to people who only celebrate me when I’m struggling, but grow distant when I’m chosen, loved, or aligned.

What stood out most was the irony.

Many of the same women who claimed “girl’s girl” and “women empowerment” energy were the ones moving strangely online and in person once they realized I wasn’t engaging in the nonsense, the comparison, or the unspoken tension.

That’s when it clicked for me.

Labels mean nothing without character.
And empowerment that collapses under another woman’s joy isn’t empowerment at all.

At this stage of my life, I’m choosing relationships rooted in alignment, not optics. I’m choosing peace over proximity. Discernment over belonging. Depth over labels.

If that means I don’t fit neatly into someone else’s definition of a “girl’s girl,” I’m okay with that.

I don’t need a title.
I need truth.
I need safety.
I need a grown-woman connection.

And I trust myself enough now to choose that quietly, cleanly, and without apology.


Friday, October 1, 2021

Flex Your Inner Success

 


Flex your inner success! Many times we like to flex our outer success but what about our inner success?

“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” -Booker T. Washington

Friday, August 15, 2014

Free Friday: I Am Free To Be Me!

                                    

                    "Don't trade in your authenticity for approval" -Rapsody

Happy Freedom Friday! This week while sitting still, I realize that I was free. Ever since, a child I drove my mother crazy because I use to tell her that I don't care what people think about me. She gasps... At the age of 31 I definitely don't care what people think about me because I am free. When I mean by being free, I mean I dance to my own rhythm, I don't follow trends and I am not a follower. I refuse to shrink my greatness and I don't give permission to anyone to do the same.

Last week, I took a long hard stare in the mirror and realize that I am FREE! I had to analyze my freeness because I had an old high school friend compliment me on my freeness. She said Drea, I don't know how you do it, you are so intelligent, beautiful, dress well, a professional, kind and cultured. She proceed to say, "I don't know how to be free like that because I am always guarded and walk on eggshells." I explained to her that I am a work in progress but we have choices in life and I choose to be free because I broke free from being held in captivity a few years ago. I was once voiceless, hopeless and powerless until I had to shift my mindset and regain my power. We go through moments in which we give permission to people and/or things to enslave us. 

My mother's favorite motto in life is "No one can hold you down but yourself. Never give your power away." -Josie Mae After leading my Girl Scout troop to the creative promise land, I decided to embrace and celebrate my FLYness by getting a mani and pedi at my local nail shop. While I was getting the hot stone foot massage, I had an undeniable urge to write a poem. I swear in my past life, I was a poet and Hip Hop artist wrapped into one. I hope all my Brown Girls appreciate this poem!

Too Bad, I Am Free To Be Me

You have a problem with me being me...that's too bad
You have a problem with my skin color...that's too bad
You have a problem with me living in your neighborhood...that's too bad
You have a problem with me being in this store...that's too bad
You have a problem with me because I have an advance degree...that's too bad
You have a problem with me because I refuse to settle...that's too bad
You have a problem with me because I choose to be free...that's too bad
You have a problem with me and my dope crew...that's too bad
You have a problem with me because I speak my mind...that's too bad
You have a problem with me being for the people...that's too bad
You have a problem with me shining my light...that's too bad

As you can see, I don't feel sorry for me.
I don't care if you are uncomfortable around me because I am free!
Free from judgement, free from your hate, free to make mistakes, free to make decision, free to be beautiful, free to shed my light and free to be me!

By Andrea C. Imafidon

I want to say thank you for reading Brown Girl From Boston. We love you all!

Brown Girl Question: Do you consider yourself free? Why or why not? What do you need to do to break free from captivity? Let's talk about it. 

If you are feeling the poem, please share your comment below.