If You're Upset Over Beyoncé's Pregnancy Announcement, I Have Something to Tell You
Originally published on www.kesifelton.com
February 3, 2017
If you are unaware of the news, Beyoncé recently announced on Instagram that she and her husband Jay-Z are expecting twins. The following day she posted more pictures photographed by Awol Erizku and included a poem titled "I Have Three Hearts" by Warsun Shire, whose work is also in Lemonade, on her website (Check them out they're amazing. Seriously). Of course, the internet acted as they would with any other piece of news regarding Beyoncé. Her name and moniker "Queen Bey" were at the top of Twitter's trend list within 30 minutes of her announcement. What came as a surprise to me, however, was the number of tweets that included negative sentiments about not only Beyoncé's social media announcement but the fact that people were so happy for her. Today, I read an article by Man Repeller's Leandra Medine which perfectly summarized these tweets, and made me wonder: Why are y'all hating?
I am not at all ashamed to admit that when I saw the photos I was genuinely happy for Beyoncé. She is an artist that I love, and especially since we all know that she's extremely private, the family photos were exciting to see (and extremely well done). And that's really okay. I understand the argument of supporting a celebrity more than your friends and family. However, in terms of what most of us have been exposed to in the news the past few weeks, the announcement was definitely uplifting and something many of us needed.
In Medine's article, she expressed her own story about a failed pregnancy, which brought up another important point. It is understandable that seeing someone else's joy and success may trigger acknowledging our lack thereof, especially with pregnancy being a touchy subject for many women. However, the longer I read her article, I couldn't help but ask "What's the point of this? Try to be supportive and keep scrolling." She even advises unfollowing people if it truly is a means to protect yourself. But Medine's point – which well reflects that of many other people – brings up a deeper issue.
Social media is a medium which many of us use to share good and bad news with our family and friends. It's impossible to spend any amount of time on your social media accounts and not see at least one thing that rubs you the wrong way. It's really never that serious unless you choose to let it affect you. If you're the type to see people's posts about their pregnancy, relationship, or any other happy moment and get upset because you feel as though there's a lack in your own life, I'm sorry but the only problem there lies with you. Regardless of what you're going through or what you feel like you don't have in your life, you are in no place to tell someone else they can't be happy or to shame other people for being happy for them. As hard as it may be, you have to stop playing into this concept of comparing yourself to others from a place of insecurity or competition. Understand that God has you at this particular point on your journey for a reason and that comparing yourself to a curated glimpse of where someone else is on their journey will do nothing but drive you crazy.
Pro tip: Practice expressing genuine gratitude for everything you have in your life right now. Don't exert unnecessary energy searching for anything else. What is meant to find you will find you in God's timing. Now quit hating on my girl Queen Bey.
–kf
