



Tonight, since I'm piled to my neck in work and even my nose is crying from the final year workload, I'm gonna get my Freakum Dress on and write about how Beyonce has inspired me.



1. She reminds people of their own worth.





Pretty Hurts tells a narrative of a participant in a beauty contest, exposing the reality of pagaents to look and behave impeccably all the time. In reality, all women have faced these issues at some point in their lives. Best thing I never had sends a powerful message to everyone to leave the toxic people in your lives and look to the right places for happiness. Me myself and I tells women to be strong and be happy in their own skins, even after a devastating breakup, because if you don't love yourself no one else will do that for you.



I'm pretty much past the phase of inadequacy now that I've grown older, but I know many of my friends still struggle with finding their self-worth. Over the years I've listened to Beyonce, I've been constantly motivated to pursue my passions, things that make me happy and positively impact the world, rather than wait for someone else to tell me how much I'm worth. Though she has largely female-centric themes, I think young men can be empowered by her messages too.



2. Her messages prioritise self-respect over relationships.



I don't mean this in a bad way. I think we're all bound to meet horrid people in our lives who bring nothing but negativity to our lives and make us feel worse about ourselves. I guess my fiery personality helps weed out the people who aren't prepared to treat me with respect, but I feel too many people nowadays are willing to put up with horrible treatment out of fear of hurting someone's feelings. Seriously though, ask yourselves- do you reaaaallllllly want to care about the feelings of someone who doesn't care about yours?



Irreplaceable reminds you lads and ladies- tell these toxic people, "TO THE LEFT TO THE LEFT!" and remember that there are still people in your lives you should love and cherish, instead of focusing on the ones who demean you.



3. She's a powerful icon for equality.





She's a fierce and unabashed icon of feminism and she promotes her message without holding back whatsoever, which I sometimes feel is necessary to get a movement going. She has inspired many women of colour in America to be open about who they are, be fiercely confident, and not be ashamed of their own skin.



She doesn't just have one kind of girl in her music videos or her backup band, and this is subtle reminder to me that I shouldn't be having just one kind of friend as well- meet and work with as many people of various backgrounds as possible.



4. Yet she does not forget to pay tribute to amazing people in her life.



She loves her husband Jay-Z and never forgets to feature him (or her love and desire for him) in her music. I find this especially encouraging. It goes against the assumptions that if you're an strong, independent woman like Beyonce, you're automatically like, oh to hell with men (something so many ignorant people like to accuse us of). No matter how rich, successful or popular you are, nobody is a self-made man/woman, and it is always important to credit your families and friends who supported you throughout your journey.



5. She doesn't forget to be human.



Sometimes people forget that even the popular, successful, "cool" strong alpha female doesn't have it all together and she has vulnerabilities too. (I know, I know, the same way sometimes people forget men have feelings too) We sometimes are too busy looking up to them, gushing over their queenly awesomeness that we forget they have a soft side and need a listening ear sometimes.





Underneath that confident persona, yes Beyonce gets hurt too. She gets afraid, jealous, angry, demoralised...and she isn't afraid of showing that side. It has taken me a long time to be comfortable with my own feelings and not be afraid to show weakness too- after all, our emotions are what make us human.



So yeah, I'm now done gushing over my Queen, and I think people should start making Queen Bey a part of their lives!