20 Times Beyoncé Helped You Get Through a Breakup

GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND – JUNE 26: Beyonce headlines the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 26, 2011 in Glastonbury, England. The festival, which started in 1970 when several hundred hippies paid 1 GBP to attend, has grown into Europe’s largest music festival attracting more than 175,000 people over five days. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images)

1. “Grown Woman”

"They love the way I walk ‘Cause I walk with a vengeance And they listen to me when I talk ‘Cause I ain’t pretendin’ It took awhile, now I understand Just where I’m going I know the world and I know who I am It’s ’bout time I show it"

“Grown Woman” is all about identity, self-assurance, and finding faith in yourself. That confidence radiates from you and affects others in a positive way. It’s about you—what you do for yourself and how that impacts those around you. Love yourself, hold your head up, and go after what you want. You don’t need anyone holding your hand or holding you back. This is how you should come to feel after a breakup, when you’ve gotten over it and found your way back to yourself. You should feel free and good, you should have your sights set on your goals and how to achieve them. You should walk like you own the world, because it’s all yours for the taking now.

I’ve had two relationships in particular that have made me feel this way post-breakup. I felt free from all the pain, the fear, from the thought that I was nobody without my partner. I felt like my own person, someone people wanted to be around, and that energy has continued to invigorate and sustain me. Even now, years after the fact, every breath I take is like the first merciful breath after near-suffocation. It’s all because I detached myself from one man who purposefully hurt me, and another who didn’t try to understand my scars.

Let me tell you, I’ve done both—I’ve hated myself with an all-encompassing fervor, and I’ve become the insufferably cocky young woman we all know and love today. Given the choice between the two, I’m never going to hate myself again; I’d rather be insufferable. Beyoncé taught me that I could take on the world if I wanted to, and I figure you need a little cockiness to succeed.

So far, so good.

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How has Queen Bey helped you in your love life and beyond? Sound off in the comments!