The Return of Pink

Pink is starting to follow me everywhere I go, or perhaps it’s enticing me more, little by little. A pink journal, a pink mug, a pink toothbrush, a pink robe—and even the idea of pink hair again. As a child, I rejected pink. Maybe because my sister loved it so much and I associated it with her; maybe because I subconsciously rejected what it symbolized—though that might be overthinking it for a young girl. To counter my own thought, I grew up in the early 2000s–2010s. I’m aware that the cultural narrative around womanhood has recently shifted toward a more traditional view; however, I was raised in the height of the “girl-boss” mentality.

It’s funny how, at eleven, my girlfriends and I would lie in the snow during recess, bundled in our winter suits, staring up at falling snowflakes, dreaming only of living alone in our own apartments, decorating them to our taste, becoming adults and working. We were certain, even in our teenage years, that we wanted to feel fulfilled in our careers before ever thinking about marriage or children. And even now, on the brink of our mid-twenties, self-realization still has us wrapped around its finger.

This is my context—how I grew up and the discourse that shaped my life choices to this day. So when pink crept back into my life, I didn’t particularly resist it. Still, it felt like an indicator of a shift happening within me, not simply an attraction to a color.

That’s when I started digging around the internet. I didn’t find much beyond a popular discourse circulating on social media: the return to pink “symbolizes a return to softness, self-acceptance, and vibrancy.” It’s framed as healing, as proof of self-growth. Are we, as women, collectively redefining what pink symbolizes to us? Not a softness born from a lack of power, but something that exists beyond the hustle of becoming strong—after we’ve been through it all, we finally arrive at “pink”.

Perhaps the return to pink marks a new level of self-realization: the understanding that we can be bold, successful, and driven while still cultivating our warmer, softer side. Two things can be true at once, we can let them coexist. It’s obvious, really—yet we seem to forget it so often.

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