Too Much of a Person - Mariagrazia S

"I think being called too much has been great for molding my character and actually finding strength in who I am."

"It's only recently that I have gone back and rediscovered who I really am and not give a damn when I am too much for some people because it is their problem."

alice

"I am not too much, I am too much for you, but I am not too much for this moment, I am the better player."

amanda

"One thing I know: you can only be yourself and express yourself, the best you, in a safe space. I suppose when you are in that safe space with the right people around you then those things that are perceived as negatives are then perceived as positives."

amandeep

"My parents didn't know how to deal with this #toomuch of a child and it has taken me to get to 33 to be happy with who I am."

amina

"Things like science, that supposed to be objective and grounded in research and numbers and everything, are still influenced by certain attitudes. Patriarchy is mad!"

annabel

"I'm too much by society's standards but I feel like they're too little and I'm tired of letting people, who don't have the balls to live their lives to the fullest, tell me that I'm not good enough because they are too small."

anne

"I'm too loud when I laugh and I'm too loud when I fuck."

annie

"I believe as human beings we are all individual and all unique and that is our power and I think our power is taken away from us when we are forced to conform."

beatriz

"I have been called, the most common one, too loud."

becka

"Because you just erode yourself for others people’s comfort all the time."

catherine

"Women are not here to fix you."

charlotte

"As a girl I was told 'you cannot take up too much space' and 'you talk too much'."

collette

"Being assertive has been great for me in global roles outside of English politeness. People like you being direct."

cristiana

"I feel like I am always the different one."

danielle

"It’s taken me a little bit to go back to my child-like 'I'm fine, I'm wonderful' feeling."

diana

"The stories that we tell become our future. "

elia

"Be your too much. It's important to listen to yourself."

ella

"You're right, you’re not a pain in the ass… These things that are a problem today will be your biggest strengths."

ellen

"This was who you were then and that is what it is. Through writing I understand more of myself."

emilie

"My own best friend said: 'You know you are going to die alone if you don't stop being you'. I was like 'here's hoping'. "

emma

"Keep going, be strong, be wonderful."

emma

"I think the biggest time that I felt I was being called too much was in my last relationship."

emma

"I was often being told 'calm down, you're getting too worked up' if I didn't agree with something–usually a social justice issue."

erinn

"I was 'too much' for some in my artwork."

esmeralda

"Loving and accepting yourself in a culture that profits from you not loving and accepting yourself is fucking hard!"

franko

"Being me helped me feel happier and made me feel free. Just own it. Life is too short."

gemma

"In Italy I am 'too muscular', 'too lax in the kitchen', 'too American', 'too sensitive'."

halima

"People say I'm a crazy woman wanting to change the world."

harri

"Be loud, be quiet, be 'out there', be whatever you want to be! No one is too much. And I'm not too much. I am who I am - and I'm totally ok with that."

helen

"Your senses are so heightened and it's 'too much'."

heli

"I want everyone to have one person who believes in them and if I could be that person, I would."

holly

"You'll regret not being yourself more than being 'too much'."

holly

"You'll figure it out."

hyacinth

"The more I'm living my truth, I'm finding it isn't hurting people. It's really liberating."

inesa

"I really don't care what you think about me because I don't think about you at all."

irina

"I've been called 'too adamant' about my own identity to be a woman."

janine

"As you get older you start to care less about what other people think and more about how things are affecting your mind and your happiness."

jemma

"He called me a stage hog and I was like WOW. I was so amazed that he would come up to me and say that. I'm pretty sure that if I had been a six foot guy he probably wouldn't have."

jenny

"It's the way people say it rather than what they actually say."

jenny

"Am I doing too much? Am I trying too hard to look normal?"

jessica

"When someone says a kid is 'too much' of something they can't and shouldn't change. Stop saying those little things because that's where it starts. It's all those tiny building blocks that form a life."

joanna

"People told me I looked too straight to be gay."

john

"Be wary of the amount of work you are doing."

karla

"Maybe if you had the freedom to speak out your mind in a polite way, maybe this kind of anger wouldn't be necessary."

kat

"It’s like if you were different then you could stay. If you weren't you, then you’d be welcome here. But as you are, it’s too much."

katarina

"I just came and I said 'Sorry, I don’t know anything, I quit my job, I have a baby and decided to prove it to the world that I am the best and to conquer the world.'"

kathryn

"Figure out who you are and learn to love you. Because not everyone is going to like it, but you should."

kirsty

"Don’t be afraid to speak out. Don’t let yourself be silenced. If you know you are doing the right thing then just go ahead and do it."

kylie

"Try not to be mean and if you are say sorry."

laura

"I was in conversation with some male friends. One of my male friends told me I was 'too intimidating'. I was taken aback but I realised later that that was his problem."

lazar

"Why do you need to tell me something like that? Go and live your life."

lizzie

"I think when you spend time with yourself, you learn more about who you are, what you are, and you care less about what other people say and think."

lottie

"Be your own cheerleader."

mari

"Me comes out the most when I'm on stage. I love that when I'm on stage, I can just be who I am. It doesn't matter whatever they call me because on stage no one can tell you anything."

maria

"I don't have to call it a moment of weakness. I will be stronger if I accept all of myself because then I won't have a weakness."

maria grazia

"Our revolution in the late sixties was against a family situation that would pass the woman from owned by her father to owned by her husband. "

maria vittoria

"I was called 'too playful' but that same playfulness was my salvation and helped me get through my time in jail. In isolation I would see how far I could spit and play with my mandarin peel."

martha

"Someone said to me as an adult 'you let a lot of light in'. I suppose some people just need to put on sunglasses."

mathilde

"I'm not behaving the way I should behave, but what even is that?"

megan

"Oh Megan's sensitive but I'll try not to show it to them but I'll feel it inside."

mette

"I'm taking the fucking mic. "

molly

"Why do I always feel as though I am living under this male gaze and that I am being consumed? It's relentless. My rage is real."

mya-rose

"I think our system is completely structured to silence girls and empower boys."

nancy

"Too high maintenance' is just that I know what I want. And I know what I like and I know what makes me feel good. And I get those things."

nellie

"Do I really have to be the one to raise you right now and be your mom and tell to you that harassing people in the street on their way home is not ok?"

nina

"What do they expect? It's the same with 'too emotional' it makes you feel more emotional and it makes you feel ashamed. "

nina

"Women are in the room and women are listening."

nina

"You just have to be more around extraordinary things which are not in your daily life."

nooshin

"I am not normal. I don't want to be normal. I will never be normal, whatever that is."

patrycja

"I see my positivity and enthusiasm about things and my independence as super powers."

penni

"My path has always led me to say, 'well, why is it like that?' It doesn't have to be like that."

penny

"Where you have a gender construct of 'man' or 'woman' and you're not picking, some people can't digest or understand that."

phoebe

"I used to have a Youtube channel about makeup when I was 12. I stopped it because it was 'too much' for the bullies at school."

priscilla

"How sweet the sound of your depth of being, met the depth of my being."

rakhi

"Too much love' and getting too little. It’s the point at which you realise that actually, this wasn't my fault, I'm not to blame and I don't need to be anything other than myself. "

rébecca

"Small acts of kindness really matter."

rejane

"When I hear that (you're too much) I say and I think to myself, yes, you are right, that's who I am. You've got two options, you can either accept and deal with it or you can leave right now."

rosie

"Too much for what?"

ruby

"Rather than letting that anger out, that anger gets turned back on myself and I think it's such a defining part of how I've become the woman that I am today."

sabina

"I was told that I 'think too much' and I thought, ok, maybe I do overthink? But then it made me angry because I think we should think in every possible way you can. There is no over thinking, it's impossible to do."

sally

"I would stand up and commend any woman who will stand up and fight and talk."

sandra

"I can not stop being 'too much'. It is not in my nature, but there has to be some sort of equilibrium of how much I give and how much I get, take or what remains for myself."

sanjana

"Next time someone is doing well instead of bringing them down pull them up, let them grow and they will help you too. "

shara

"I am glad that I've got my PhD. If anything or anyone is going to take me seriously it's because of that, that's my weapon. Wherever I end up I've still got my education and something to be proud of."

sharon

"For me it's like Pandora's box, once that box had been opened I found myself thinking, questioning every single thing about myself."

sofia

"Women of the world, if somebody tells you that you're too skinny, who the fuck cares as long as your relationship with food is good."

sophie

"Why do I have to have this smile on my face and be chit chatty and cutesy for you?"

sophie

"It's been so empowering to have my story and turn it into something good and own the narrative around it as well."

stella

"I think where some people get it wrong is making you feel bad for how you are, rather than encouraging you for sort of becoming a better version of yourself."

sue

"People criticise your hair but they don't mean your hair, they mean everything else. They mean you're just taking up too much attention."

sunaina

"You do you."

tanya

"Constantly being told 'that's too much' so you try, maybe without noticing, you try to lower something which has a knock on effect to your self esteem."

teodora

"They are scared and when they see someone in full shine. They are jealous."

timea

"Whenever there’s a situation, just be brave and courageous and stand up for it…be yourself…just go for it…"

vicky

"Imagine if we all held hands and made an effort together. What we could achieve would be incredible…"

victoire

"I think that as a woman who has been having mental health issues since she was 15, you get silenced a lot. And I didn't want that to define me so I just kept quiet."