Are Women Becoming More Like Men?

In today’s society we are seeing women take ahold of their destiny in multiple ways; career wise, relationship wise, fashion wise and so much more! This new found, and yes I mean NEW, sense of self-security is leaving many men feeling as though women are now taking on their roles.

It was not that long ago that women were required to be accompanied by their spouses to doctor appointments. Voting rights were granted a little over 100 years ago. There are women alive today who were born around that era. Men were automatically given custody of children in divorces. Women were not allowed to wear pants. Girls as young as 12 years old were married off in the United States. You might not have even started puberty by the time you were married.

In short women were were stuck on the patriarchal rollercoaster with no way to get off till The Women’s Rights Movement began to push back.

Today we are still having to push back when it comes to us women owning every aspect of our lives. I see the constant disapproval from men on social media in comments beneath posts of women or posts relating to women. I see comments from men telling women to go back to the kitchen, to lower their standards, that their achievements don’t mean a thing to men and so many more disparaging and disgusting statements.

Basically men are STILL telling women that the way men view them should be the only thing they consider when making ANY life choice.

I say women are not becoming men. I think we are becoming more of ourselves.

Recently we have been focusing more on gender and how gender relates to sex. We now know that gender, whether feminine or masculine, does not directly correlate with sex, female or male.

In my experiences, with gender being the topic, I am often told that I am masculine. People say that I carry myself like a male. What’s hilarious is the reasons why I’m told I am like a male.

I am naturally a leader. When I take leadership roles they say I’m masculine/male-like. Really, I just feel like I have good interpersonal, problem-solving and organizational skills. I once was told that I sound like a guy because I said I didn’t want to settle down till my career was where I wanted it to be. I guess me prioritizing my personal growth and achievements more so than getting married means I’m more like a guy? I just thought it was a smart move. I wanted to make sure I was where I wanted to be in life before sharing it with someone else.

Women have more space to be themselves than ever before! This is not us becoming men, this is us exploring and enjoying the fullness of who we are. Yes, that does mean that men are becoming less of a priority and I think that’s really the concern behind men saying that women are becoming more like men.

We are no longer waiting to be chosen. We choose ourselves. We are finding ourselves. We are going after goals. We are starting businesses. We are getting degrees. We are traveling the world. We’re busier these days and sometimes that leaves less room for men.

Us being comfortable with not having men in our lives I think really upsets them. (I am laughing as I type this) It’s like watching a toddler throw a tantrum because they are no longer getting their way.

Men used to cheat on our grandmothers and great grandmothers and they stayed because working options were not great. Many jobs back then did not employ women and if they did they didn’t pay women enough to support themselves independently. Due to the lack of options marriage was like life insurance. A sure way to survive. Now that we can survive on our own and men no longer have the control that they once did.

We are not becoming men. We are becoming equals… and that bothers men who seek to control their women partners.

Men accept the fact that you’re no longer in control. There’s so many benefits to having a woman who is not controlled by you. I mean if you’re looking for true partnership, intimacy and love then an independent woman is where it’s at. She’s not with you to live off of you. She’s with you because she loves you. It’s all about you and not about what she can get from you monetarily.

Now if you don’t have much to offer, which I feel like is the case for most of these men making disparaging comments, then I get. Still not ok, but I get it. You rather women to be so focused on getting a man that they settle for you because God forbid you have to meet standards.

Women continue to focus on you. Live and your truth and wait on someone who you can be your full self with because you will never be able to live life fully unless they accept you fully.

Peace and love,

Cam

I Saved it Just for You

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Today I drove to the cleaners to have alterations made to my dress I’m wearing this weekend. The individual working there asked me for my number and as I started to give my old number I remembered that I had just recently changed it. As I began to give him my new number a warm sensation crept up my body. From sole to soul I knew there was another transaction occurring.

Moments before walking through the door of that place I had walked through another door. I had just got done sending my last responses to an ex who has never had my best in mind and I have the emotional scars to prove it. I had recently given him the last of his things and as I knew he would he used the moment as a means to continue on a conversation I know he thought would lead him back into my life. I cut him off a couple months ago and haven’t bothered to see him or talk to him since. Some of the best months I’ve experienced in a while too.

I wrote this on 10-11-2018.

Looking back on this makes me smile and also causes me to reflect on where I was then and where I thought I would be today. I had been in and out of a relationship with this toxic individual for almost a year. It caused me more damage than I could have imagined. I had given the best of me to the worst person and I really wish I had saved it and given it to the right one.

Today I find it difficult to enjoy some of the things that have brought me the most joy in the past. The things that provided me a safe place for my emotions like dancing and singing. They have in ways become estranged places to me because of the type of relationship that I was in.

See my ex was very abusive mentally and emotionally. A couple times I almost thought the abuse would turn physical because of how angry he would get. For the most part he would simply pick me apart. He found something wrong with every thing about me to the point I began second guessing the things about myself that I was once so sure of.

Towards the end of our relationship I was walking on eggshells, a nervous wreck. I have always struggled with anxiety, but this was a level of anxiety I had never experienced before. I was afraid to be myself.

I get really mad when I think of how I let him hurt me and get me to this point where I don’t even recognize myself on most days. I feel like a watered down version of me. I’m looking and feeling more like myself now, but I know I am still so far from the person I used to be and to some degree I have to accept that I will never get back fully who I was. His presence changed me in ways that I will carry with me forever.

I think I was just unaware of exactly how selfish a person could be. I truly thought that with enough love and support people could feel safe and secure enough to deal with whatever issues were holding them back from truly loving and supporting the people they loved. Turns out when you’re with a narcissist they only drain you and then punish you for not having more to give them afterwards.

Sometimes I see old pictures of me, before him, and remember how full of life I was, how happy I was, how stress free I was, how fit I was and how confident I was. I miss me, the old me. Sometimes however I do love the new Cam. I take red flags more seriously now. I pay attention to my emotions and how I feel around certain people. I am much more protective of my mental and emotional health now that I see what not being protective does to you.

I hate that I went through what I went through, but the wisdom and the lessons I gained from it and now my ability to share it with others has given that time in my life purpose.

Like I said before I will never be who I was before him. Our relationship changed me forever. I do however have the choice to become better instead of bitter.

There are so many other things that I am now insecure about that I wasn’t before and it bothers me. I gained a lot of weight really fast when I was with him. This is one of the main things I get so bummed about because I was the fittest I had been in a while before I met him and then it all went away when we started dating. One of the great things that has come from this is the realization that even when I was skinny I thought that I was overweight. I have learned that it’s not a weight issue it’s a self love issue. I can choose to love and enjoy my body at any size if I so choose to. Being a certain size isn’t going to make me love me more.

I hope that I help someone who has gone through what I have or is going through it right now. There is a way to heal and to move forward successfully. I see my progress every day and though I thought I would be so much further along in my healing process than I am now I realize that this is not a race this is an opportunity. This is an opportunity for me, and hopefully you too, to find out why we dated these people in the first place and to heal all the wounds that once welcomed that type of toxicity into our lives.

I’m slowly becoming healthy inside and out and more confident about who I am and what I look like. There are things that I have done that have benefited me more than I had expected. I have seen results I never knew were possible. The next few posts will be dedicated to sharing these things. I’m really excited and happy to be on this journey and want to take as many people as I can along with me.

I thought that I had given away the best of me to the wrong person and that I would never get it back, but now I see I have saved it.

I have saved it just for you.

What Happened in Vegas Didn’t Stay in Vegas

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As far as I can tell Vegas is the last trip for me this year though there’s plenty of time for that to change and I will not be in the slightest bit surprised if it does. I’ve taken quite a few trips in 2019 learning something new on each one and this one was fortunately no different. It was just last weekend and though I was sick the entire time I thoroughly enjoyed myself and most importantly gained lessons and inspiration I will carry with me for a lifetime.

While driving through what seemed to be endless miles of grassy fields filled with all types of hues of yellow and gold I allowed my mind to drift among their blades swaying softly in the wind. Old scenes from my last relationship played out in my mind as my friend Jeanine snacked in the back, DJ played DJ in the front, Nicole with her headphones doing homework on her laptop right beside me in the middle seats of our rented blue Volkswagen SUV. The memories came flooding back because he was fresh on my mind. We had just spoke not even 48 hours prior to us embarking on our much anticipated birthday trip for DJ’s “slirty thirty” and yes I typed “slirty” it’s a new word we invented on this trip.

My ex told me he had changed and all I could really think about was how much I had changed. I had healed the wounds that once welcomed him.

I remember how depressed I was in his presence the last days of our relationship. I was losing myself. I was losing all my progress and future progress. I was just a loser with him gaining absolutely nothing towards the end and now here I was with my girls laughing and enjoying life to the fullest.

So many women feel like life doesn’t start till “The One” walks into their lives. We act like a relationship is the prerequisite to smiling, to happiness, to feeling like we’re worth wanting, loving, being looked at. I know girls who spend more time on dating apps than they do with themselves or with others nourishing the healthy platonic relationships that already exist in their lives.

I remember when I was so convinced that a relationship was going to fix me. I was going to be happier, feel purposeful and never be alone. I have never been so unhappy, question what my purpose was in life so much or feel so lonely than I did when I was with that man. Granted not all relationships are as crappy as the one I left or crappy at all, but there is nothing like fixing yourself. There is nothing like being able to find yourself desirable in your own gaze. There is nothing like loving your own company AND there is nothing like being happy all by yourself. There is a quote I saw, I believe it’s by Kimani Fambro, it goes, “In math, two halves make a complete one. In life, two broken people seldom complete each other.”

I don’t want another broken relationship. I want a whole one, with a whole person and I realize that I too must be a whole person.

Over the duration of this trip I stayed present and often noted how happy I was and how hard I laughed and how confident I felt in my dresses. I hadn’t felt this way in a while and a lot of the feelings were just simply new to me. I had leveled up emotionally and mentally and I could feel it.

During our trip I felt so loved and supported and cared for by my girls. I was spending time/investing in the relationships that were healthy for me, which also a big reason why I had changed so much since leaving my ex. I do believe that it is incredibly important to nurture and be attentive to the relationships we do have before our partners come busting through our heart’s doors. They tend to be the relationships that are the constants in our lives through all life’s ups and downs.

So cheers to our drunken nights, our inside jokes and our growth through and with each other. Cheers to wine in fast-food cups consumed classily through straws. Cheers to spilling chocolate all over tables and taking inappropriate pictures with a giant duck statue. Cheers to comfy heels and outfits we can’t wait to wear again. Cheers to poolside conversations and alcoholic slushes. Cheers to sewing kits and magical curls. Cheers to making up new words and silly videos in Ubers. And until “The One” comes and even when they do, may we continue to love ourselves, love one another and be as beautiful and bright as those Vegas lights. Cheers!

Roll Up, Breakdown

Do your fingertips feel like fire when in contact with your victims
Do you feel their beauty fueling you
Their smile smiling on you giving you value you don’t see in yourself
Does her name make you flutter to your core
Another win, another score
Does the taste of her lips taste like victory

You’re a shell of a body
Filled with the laughter and loving looks of others
And yet you still don’t feel any different about you
Maybe their love and attention would make up
For the love and attention the younger you was deprived of

As you prey on your next high
You stoop low
Below self love, below honesty and realness
You creep past inner cries for help and feeling helpless
You catch glimpses of your reflection as you move in close
You move faster afraid that your victim may see what you see

She dances slow to the rhythm of the beat
Smile on her face
Real small waste
Love and light in her eyes

You say hello
She smiles back
It’s like homegrown in a bag
You take a puff, poor girl, if she had known she would’ve passed

-Cam

Flickers

Wow, it’s been forever and honestly “wow” isn’t the way I should be starting this. I’m the one who’s been away and how can I be surprised by an absence I was present for the whole time?

It’s been crazy… and well that’s putting things extremely lightly. The next few weeks I will try to update you all on everything I have been going through before I enter a 3-week sabbatical. A trip that I am hoping will happen at the end of November that I will be venturing on all on my OWN.

I have experienced many lows, but SO many highs as well. Some of the highs have been experiencing relationships that have given me so much rather it be through coworkers who just get me to new friends who have provided me new AND improved perspectives to people I’ve loved deeply and had to quickly let go.

If there is one thing I have been learning it is that it’s better to accept people and their role in your life than fight for them to be something they’re not or to stay longer than they should. It is imperative that you accept the timeframe in which YOUR life unfolds as well as the timeframe of others within it.

God brought an AMAZING individual into my life who is practically everything I have ever wanted in a man. We are not a thing, honestly we aren’t in each other’s lives at all right now, however his brief visit was one of the most profound moments of my life.

It was late at night and we were as usual talking about life and lessons we’ve learned. The light from the street lights danced in his eyes as I watched him talk and occasionally heard him. He would say something so wise and rich my mind would still be trying to grasp the depth of it and then he would casually utter YET another soul awakening statement. I would then regain consciousness to hear what other groundbreaking discoveries he recently discovered. My soul was full… my heart was content. My spirit was sharp.

My spirit is an extremely discerning spirit. Though this man was everything I had ever hoped to experience I knew the visit was not for long and more than likely not forever. In the past when I got that feeling like this wasn’t it, like the person I was talking to wasn’t my prince charming, I’d pull away. For once I sat in this moment soaking up his lessons, his insight, his smile, his wisdom, his touch, his entire being because I knew it was good for me. He was something, something this girl isn’t used to. He was and I’m sure still is, HEALTHY.

I believe God sends us people who may not be in our lives forever, but rather will change our lives for the better forever. I always thought that anyone who wasn’t my prince charming was a waste of my time. I have probably been pushing lessons and letters from the universe away for years if I really think about it, but just because someone is not your forever doesn’t mean they don’t have a spot on your journey to forever.

I loved this man and I always will love him for the person that he is and is destined to become. I thank the universe on nights like this when I see stars that remind me of nights like ours. As they flicker I am reminded of how life’s lessons can do just that. One day you have them the next you don’t and then someone new comes along and turns the lights back on.

I have no resentment or ill will towards anyone who I’ve crossed paths with and continued to move in opposite directions. This goes for friends, coworkers, random people who have spoken to my soul and I never saw again even though we exchanged numbers and promised to do coffee some time, and it definitely goes for past loves.

Not fighting it or asking questions that don’t need answers like why aren’t they the one or why couldn’t their stay be longer or why didn’t they work out has been everything to me. What is meant to be will be. Accept it. Move on. Move forward. There are so many people you haven’t met. There’s amazing friends out there that you will stay up countless nights with and laugh like the world’s next turn depends on it. There are amazing jobs out there that will bring you closer to your goals and YOURSELF. There are places you will move to that will give you the solitude and the peace of mind you are so desperately looking for.

There is so much ahead of you. These moments, places, jobs, people we get to experience on our journey are blessings on this adventure we call life. Be grateful. Sit in the moments as they come, soak up the people, listen to the sounds of the busy streets in your city and the chatter of those around. Be present. Explore all of the places God guides you to. Love the people He brings while you have them and then feel free to let them go when it’s time and know that there’s already someone new on their way. We can plan all we want, but life has the LAST say.

Enjoy the flickers, they are what gets us through the NIGHT.

Good night,

Cam