Some Thoughts on Color...

When I was really little I loved pink. I wanted to be Kimberly, the pink Power Ranger. I had a pink princess dress that I loved.👸🏻💖 Then, as I grew a little older, I internalized the idea that pink is "girly" and girly things are somehow bad or embarrassing, so purple became my favorite color for a couple of years. It felt more acceptable. Then I fell in love with all shades of blue, and that was my favorite color throughout all of middle and high school. In college, it shifted to mid-to-dark teal/peacock blue and that's where I thought I'd settled. I found the perfect shades of dark teal to dye my hair. I was happy with teal.🦚💙

And then I remembered that I used to love pink. And I remembered that I was working on my internalized misogyny. That "girly" things are great. Wonderful, really. And that that sort of thing is all arbitrarily decided anyway, and that it's silly to limit your self-expression and love for the world based on some false, ridiculous notion of whatever harmless thing like color is acceptable or not. It hurts us to care about that sort of thing. I'm not saying that color isn't powerful. It absolutely can be, and I'm glad of that. But it also doesn't have to be. Especially if that power is hurting you. If it's trapping you in a box.

And so pink is decidedly my favorite color again (especially soft pink), because it is beautiful. And because I refuse to let the ugly side of society dictate what colors I can and can't love again. I think I may have really settled on a favorite this time, but who knows? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯💕

I also love plum purples, mustards, ochres and golds🌟, rust, sage, seafoams and mints, all the teals, anything slightly dusty and desaturated (seriously, bury me in dusty vintage colors), earthy tones, forest greens, black and white, creams...and? Baby blues.💙 So here's me returning to my roots, returning to my childhood love of blues and pinks.✨Don't let society tell you what harmless colors you should or shouldn't love.

If you're a man or a masc-presenting person, wear pink if it's in your heart to do so. If you love it. If you're a little girl (and I'm talking to all of my cis, trans, and non-binary siblings) who's scared of being too much like "other girls," try to remember that being a girl isn't a bad thing. Girls are amazing. The things that girls love are amazing and worthwhile. Pink is good. It's okay to love soft colors and pastels. For some reason, young people seem to think I'm cool. A wild notion, as someone who never once felt cool growing up. But here I am. Cool, apparently. And I love all the colors. You can, too.💖❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🖤🤎🤍