Inside of you, there is a strong, beautiful, joyful, confident woman who is an absolute necessity to the success of this world. I know, we’ve heard it all before. We hear it and we think the person saying it is either blowing smoke or actually just describing how they feel about themselves from their detached, privileged, Instagramable pedestal.

But friend, can I let you in on a secret? It is actually true. And can I let you in on one more? It takes a lot of rolling up your sleeves and getting dirty to let that woman rise up and step into the driver’s seat.

The truth is, when you’re hearing someone reporting back from the other end of the treacherous journey that got them there, it sounds hollow, not only because it’s foreign, but more strikingly, because it just seems too damn good to be true.