LISTEN UP
Not every flutter, fog, or forgotten thought
is a hormone swinging from the rafters.
Sometimes it’s B12,
or iron,
or something more than a chart can hold.
After babies, they said “you’re just tired.”
Later, “it’s just your age.”
Before that, “you worry too much.”
Every diagnosis draped in just,
like our pain is an accessory.
Healthcare loves to shrug us off —
our symptoms, our intuition,
our knowing.
We’re too much when we speak,
too quiet when we wait.
It’s an impossible scale:
argue and you’re dramatic,
accept it and you disappear.
But listen —
you are not crazy,
or hormonal,
or “fine.”
You are a woman in the middle,
carrying wisdom and warning signs,
and you deserve to be believed.
Keep asking.
Keep pushing.
Keep being “loud.”
Because loud women
save quiet ones every single day.
Note: Some images and design elements, including wording and fonts, were enhanced with the help of AI.
The Forty Files 