Page 9 of Chapter 1

I wasn’t handed a damn thing in this life. No silver spoons, no easy breaks, no handouts. Everything I’ve got, I’ve had to fight for. And let me tell you, life has been a battleground. It’s thrown punches from every direction, and I’ve had to stand there and take each one. Bloodied, bruised, and battered, I’ve faced it all—and I’ve kept going. I didn’t get to where I am by cowering in fear or by accepting defeat. No, I kept my head held high and fought through every storm life threw at me.

A broken heart? Oh, I’ve had my share. The kind that feels like it’s going to crack your chest open and leave you hollow. A soul that’s been shaken to its core? I’ve been there too. When the world seems like it’s closing in and you feel like you can’t find your footing, that’s when you discover the strength you didn’t even know you had. And exhaustion? Yeah, I know that feeling too. The kind that sinks deep into your bones, makes your body feel like a shell, but still, you push forward. Every damn day, you push forward.

I joined all those clubs—the club of broken hearts, the club of failure, the club of self-doubt. But here’s the thing: I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t handed a life of ease. Instead, I had to walk through fire. And there were moments when I thought I’d burn up and never come back, but that’s when I realized something. Badass women don’t break. We don’t fold under pressure. We rise. Every single time. Like a phoenix from the ashes, stronger and more determined than ever.

This is what we do. We don’t let our struggles define us. We take each punch life throws, absorb the pain, and stand back up. We rise. We rise higher. We rise stronger. We rise fiercer. It’s the power we have as women who’ve been through it all and come out on the other side. Our scars? They’re proof of our strength. Our cracks aren’t weaknesses—they’re what make us extraordinary. Every time life knocks us down, we get up. We dust ourselves off. And we keep going. We keep rising.

You see, it’s easy to look at someone who seems unbreakable and think they were always like that. That they were born strong, ready to take on the world. But that’s not the truth. None of us are born this way. We become this way. Through every tear, every heartbreak, every betrayal, and every struggle. We become stronger because we keep fighting. We rise, again and again, no matter how many times we fall.

And here’s the thing: it’s not just about surviving. It’s about thriving. It’s about taking what life throws at me and using it as fuel to rise even higher. To stand even taller. To be unapologetically bold in my dreams and ambitions. To not be afraid to take up space in a world that often tells me to shrink.

Badass women don’t sit around waiting for things to happen. We make things happen. We don’t wait for the world to give us a seat at the table—we build our own damn table and invite others to join us. We refuse to let fear or doubt dictate our lives. We’ve already fought the hardest battles and come out on top, so why would we stop now?

Yeah, life will continue to throw punches. It’ll try to break me, shake me, and make me question everything I am. But here’s what I’ve learned: badass women don’t break. We rise. Every time. We fight. And we come back stronger.

Like a phoenix, every damn time.

🫰💞🫖 JustRealTea