overwhelmed and overworked. This doesn’t mean we aren’t strong, but even the strongest person knows their limitations. Postpartum depression doesn’t have to be as grim as we believe it to be. It is feeling like you want to cry out loud, but fearful that no one will hear you. Because black women don’t cry–because Black women don’t break or bend.
Raising children is a very stressful and time-consuming job. And because we’ve been conditioned to believe that black women are superior beings, that expectation coupled with the stress, makes us that much more susceptible to feeling inadequate. The house won’t be clean all the time.
Diapers won’t be changed immediately. We won’t be sexy 24/7. Allow us to be comfortable in our truth. Our blackness shouldn’t negate our experiences of certain things. Our discovery of being healthy in our bodies, our minds and spirits should be supported. Trust that those ancestors from which we come are there to guide us from a spiritual realm if ever we fall short, but know, we will fall short.
We are good mothers. Leave the ‘S’ on our chests; we deserve to have it printed there. Just understand the difference. Being a superwoman doesn’t mean we’re Super-Woman.
…and that’s okay.
Abril Green (Edwards) is an author, spoken word artist & motivational speaker; founder of #BumpyButNotBlocked Ministries & Spoken WorDship where she spits “Poetry with A Purpose”. Currently a Literacy Interventionist at Chicago Public Schools, Abril believes “the greatest relationship outside of Man and His Higher Power, is between a Pen and HER Paper.”