A Promise to my New Sisters

I still don’t know most of your names, but I promise I’m learning.

I don’t know your hobbies, your favorite foods, or the names of your crappy ex boyfriends, but I promise to listen to all of your stories until I do.

I promise to be honest when your outfit just isn’t working, and I also promise to be your personal stylist and let you raid my closet whenever you need to.

I promise to always be your movie/dinner/lib date when you need one (and live vicariously through you when you replace me with your crush!)

I promise to send you silly snapchats when I know you’ve had a rough day.

I promise to have impromptu jam sessions and dance parties with you, because it’s impossible not to smile when you’ve got a throwback playlist on and friends who are willing to be your backup dancers/singers when you feel like taking on lead vocals that day.

I promise to dry your tears when someone wrongs you, and be your confidant when you feel like you have nowhere else to turn.

I promise to stand by your side when people try to break you down, and build you up through my unwavering support.

And above all else, I promise to remind you of your beauty, your intelligence, and your strength every single day, because I know how it feels to look at yourself and hate what you see because of the opinions of those around you.

If you’ve noticed anything about me over the past few weeks, it’s that I do my best to keep a positive attitude no matter what obstacles may come my way. Getting to this point was not easy in the slightest, because growing up as a young woman in today’s society meant that I was not only at war with my self doubt, but also with my peers. I found myself in constant competition with incredible girls, but instead of seeing their successes as wins for all women, I saw them as losses for myself.

It took me until after I graduated high school to realize that if I brought such a negative attitude with me into the next chapter of my life, winning would never be an option. The realization was a hard pill to swallow, mostly because I knew that changing the way I viewed things wouldn’t necessarily eliminate competition or fix the issues society has conditioned us to believe we have. Even so, I saw it as a step in the right direction and am now happy to say that I live by the idea that success is not relative; if a peer succeeds, that does not mean that you’re any less successful.

Old and new members of this incredible organization, I wholeheartedly promise that I will encourage you to put your heart and soul into whatever you choose to do, believe in you, and be proud when you shine. I chose Sigma Kappa because I saw a light inside every single one of the sisters I met, and I cannot wait to see all of the brilliant things you will accomplish over the coming years.

I promise all of this and more as a thank you for seeing in me what I finally see in myself.

Love Always,

Your ray of sunshine