The hashtag #likeagirl always trends on social media with questions like, “What does it mean to run or fight or do something like a girl?” The content gives us a gist of how ‘like a girl’ is a fault finding and unflattering phrase. I am a woman. Listen to me.

Being a woman is not a farce, though it seems to have been reduced to one in an evolutionary age of apathy.

I am no feminist but yes, I do stand to celebrate Womanhood. By being a woman, I do not mean a fragile human or a weak soul filled with emotional reactions or a quiet being that is grounded in a home. By being female, I do not mean endless selfies or rainbows and flowers colour color pink nor do I mean that we are little ducks flapping our tiny wings or bunnies hopping on the green grass.

Yes. We are cute. That’s a given. By being female, I mean being “bold”. By being a girl, I mean being independent and wearing the pants in a man’s world. After all, the guys cannot wear dresses, can they?

A woman means a mother. She means home. She means love.

She loves you at your finest and at your worst. How can a human hold so much compassion, beauty, and strength? How does she manage to love selflessly and unconditionally? Truly, she is God’s most beautiful creation.

The 21st-century woman has been lauded as a career-oriented, confident, free-spirited soul in a fascistic society like ours. Competitive. Fierce. Adventurous.

But the essence of a woman is not a fine piece of Chanel clothing or Louis Vuitton shoes or a bright shade of MAC lipstick.

It’s not the curves or the flawless skin or shiny hair. It’s not a repeated episode of crying and wailing when you’re hurt and lost. It’s not about being a Barbie doll or a trophy wife.

To be a woman is more than just flowery clothing, emotional sensitivity or the ability to birth children.

The essence of a woman is embracing the soul within. It’s the celebration of being a girl. Nothing can be simpler than that. Go ahead and do what you’ve always wanted to do.

Play sports, trek, skydive, work with the engine oils or the gamma rays or be in the ring. It doesn’t make you any less of a woman.

The beauty of a woman has always been her ability to burst out laughing at the lamest jokes, dressing up in your favorite old T-shirt and scooping your ice cream with cookies on a late Friday night. It’s the unkempt hair, chocolate over a salad, the stains on the frilly aprons and laboratory coats, the good bed rest at the end of a hectic day and the excitement that comes with each dawn.

The essence of a woman is just being you; the real you.

Even if it’s just for a day, live it your way. You don’t need a man to feel loved or accepted and be told, “You’re beautiful”. Dear men, please tell us something we don’t know.

So when I say “What being a girl feels like”, it’s just being ourselves, enjoying life, being positive and being where we want to be.

It’s being humane rather than just a human.

We cry when we see a dog adoption commercial and become the badass when the coffee kicks in. The bubble of emotions is our strength, never our weakness.

I am not just a butterfly. I can be the whole zoo if I want to.

You can’t understand us just yet. We are women. We are indescribable. You should be pleased that some pleasant mysteries of the earth are still unknown.

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