Dear Women of America,

Whether you marched yesterday or not...

Whether you voted for Trump, voted for Clinton, or sat around holding your nose, just waiting for the whole thing to be over...

Whether you consider yourself a "nasty woman," or a "perfectly nice one, thank you very much..."

Whether you're attracted to men, or women, or both, or neither...

Whether you, or your parents, or your grandparents, or their grandparents, were born here or not...

Whether you stay at home with a baby on each hip, or stay late at the office pushing up against a glass ceiling...

Whether or not you support Planned Parenthood, organized religion, stricter gun laws, the Affordable Care Act, a higher minimum wage, or prayer in schools...

Whether you're a gluten-free, non-GMO vegan, or a McDonald's junkie/Willy Wonka's mistress wannabe...

Whether you've been abused, broken, battered, assaulted, insulted, held back, laughed at, judged, condemned, or stepped on...

You have to know this:

You matter.

What you think matters.
What you believe matters.
What you want matters.
What you say matters.

And if anyone ever makes you feel like you don't matter, you have every right—every single one—to stand up for yourself.

Whether that's in an organized march, televised for the world to see; or a private (but heated) speech, kept strictly between you and your Ben & Jerry's...you can stand up for yourself. You can.

In fact, you can do anything you want, really. You can prove the haters wrong, or you can ignore them altogether. You can fight your way to the top, or you can help build the foundation at the bottom. You can get involved, mobilize others, and initiate change; or you can coast a bit because honestly, you're happy with how things are going.

Those choices aren't wrong. Not one of them is wrong.

All those specifics? The specifics about the choices you make and how you live and what you support and who you listen to? They add nothing to—and certainly detract nothing from—your worth. That's not to say they aren't important. They are. And we should talk about them respectfully. But they mean nothing when it comes to your worth.

Because no matter what, no matter what anyone says, and no matter who that "anyone" happens to be...

You. Have. Worth.
You. Are. Enough.
You. Matter.

Whether you know you do, or you think you don't. You matter...because. Just because.

Don't roll your eyes at the women who participated in the marches. They are showing the world that they have value.

Don't scoff at the women who stayed home. They are showing themselves that they have value.

You matter. And every other woman does, too.

And I honestly don't think I have much more to say than that.

You go, girls. All of you. Do your thing and keep it real. Show love to each other and I guess to everyone else, too, while you're at it. And if someone disagrees with you, cool. Love them anyway. Love them and love yourself.

Because we're women. And we matter.