Black Womanhood Is Not a Performance

Many Black women learn early that safety is tied to presentation. Tone matters. Facial expressions matter. How we enter a room matters. This is not paranoia—it’s pattern recognition shaped by lived experience.Clinically, this constant self-monitoring activates the nervous system. Over time, it creates chronic vigilance, emotional fatigue, and a quiet disconnection from self.Poetically?It feels like holding your breath in rooms that were never meant to require it.Black womanhood was never meant to be an audition. It is not something to refine for comfort or approval. It is embodied wisdom—passed down, learned in the body, remembered in moments of stillness.When we stop performing, the body exhales.When we stop translating ourselves, the mind softens.When we allow authenticity, regulation begins.You do not need to earn rest.You do not need to explain your presence.You are allowed to exist as you are—without rehearsal.