When Life Gets Ugly... Act like a lady

(Friday, January 7, 2011)

Time and time again as young ladies we are told that we are supposed to act like a lady when life gets ugly, but this generation can be a bit confusing.  We have the strong, independent women around us who are happy and proud to say that they absolutely, positively do NOT need a man in their lives, are the head of their household, and often times play the "angry woman" role if you dare get her order wrong in a restaurant.  Then we have the women who are traditional and old-fashion.  These are stereotypically women with strong southern roots who feel that being submissive to a man is key to gaining you one and having a gorgeous family together.  These women would not mind being homemakers, and may even look down upon women who were never married or had their children out of wedlock.

These two contradictions of a female make it difficult for those of us in our 20s who are just now feeling out the world.  I often find myself in tough situations, never knowing if it is the time for me to show that I am not a weak female… or if I must act like a lady at all cost and choose my battles.  No matter how I decide to handle my battles and/or my business, life gets ugly.  Since graduating from college in 2007, I have seen life turn its ugly head.  From financial issues, to school issues, to male drama, and family drama… life gets ugly.  The ugliness of life is what inspired this blog, because like myself, 90% of the world does not know the best way to handle life when it gets ugly. Hell, more than a quarter of that 90% probably doesn't even know who they are yet.  Looking into a mirror every day trying to decide whether their conscious is stable enough to take the pretty road or the ugly one... most who haven't even been able to look themselves in the mirror and give a definite answer as to whether God made them pretty or not.


I am not claiming to be a guru, therapist, or even a socialite.  I am merely a young lady who loves to write and desperately needs to rediscover this outlet for venting and learning myself how to deal with life when it reels its ugly head.  Let this blog be not a place for me to tell you what to do, but for me to help provoke thought, say what you have been thinking.  Maybe someone will stumble across a piece that I wrote one day and give me a profound answer as to what to do when things get ugly.

As a woman who has always been told to “act like a lady”, I feel that it’s time to be myself in those moments; whether that means that I want to scream, yell, cry, curse, spit, or say nothing.  In my opinion, getting pretty is an outlet.  Pretty as in finding a way to get pretty happy, pretty faithful, pretty strong, or just simply getting pretty.  As of now, when things get ugly I just be myself as opposed to "acting" anything.  Simply put... when life gets ugly, let’s learn to get pretty something more often.

"We have to learn to be our own best friends because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemies."  ~Roderick Thorp, Rainbow Drive