Ever find yourself having a good cry in the shower—partly because it's the only place you feel free enough to let go your feelings? Brittany Latham knows what that's like.
This 30-year-old photographer from Mobile, Alabama, decided to share an image of a woman crying in the shower on Instagram, captioning it with inspiring words that has hit such a chord, it's already racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
“For the woman whose husband makes an ‘extra stop’ after work every evening,” she started the post. “For the woman who is mourning the loss of a pregnancy that nobody else knew about.”
Latham continued calling out other cry-worthy scenarios, like losing a job after staying home with a sick child, breaking up with a partner, or enduring unsuccessful IVF treatments. She made it clear that she understands the stress and heartache of these and similar situations.
“For the woman that lives with quiet anxiety because nobody understands what you could possibly be stressed out about,” she wrote. “For the woman that gives to her family all day everyday and just needs a break.”
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Latham ended her post with a message directly related to the photo. “For every single woman that cries in the shower so that nobody else can see. Because if you aren’t strong, nobody is. Just because the water washes your tears doesn’t mean that you don’t cry. I am you. I see you. I am with you, I cry with you.”
Her emotional post struck a nerve. Within days, it went viral on Facebook and has garnered nearly 400,000 reactions and more than 400,000 shares.
Latham tells Health that she was motivated by her own life and other women’s experiences. “The inspiration behind [this] was a collection of various things that I have experienced as a single mom, married mom, and mom of two babies lost to miscarriage,” she says. “I spend a lot of time with my friends and hear their struggles and I thought how resilient women must be sometimes. A lot of times we are the only backbone.”
In more than 60,000 comments, people celebrated the beauty and power of her words and image. “Wow...I saw myself in many of these words and yes the sun did shine again on me,” one respondent wrote. “This is truth,” said another.
Latham told us that she was shocked her post connecting with so many strangers. “I write a lot of pieces and very few make it out of my journal, so I was just as shocked as anyone when this thing went viral,” she says.
For the woman whose husband makes an "extra stop" after work every evening.
For the woman who is mourning the loss of a pregnancy that nobody else knew about.
For the woman who was fired for her fourth tardy because she has been awake for a straight week with a sick child.
For the single mom who doesn't know how the utilities are going to stay on this month.
For the woman who has gone through 2 IVF's and has tried for five years without success but still shows up to every baby shower for her friends.
For the woman who still hasn't forgiven herself for the abortion that she had 20 years ago.
For the woman who has a line of judging eyes at her and her children as she slides her ebt card at the grocery store.
For the woman that opens the door to the news of her husband being killed overseas three weeks before he was to return home.
For the woman that lives a with a quiet anxiety because nobody understands what you could possibly stressed about.
For the woman that gives to her family all day- everyday and just.needs.a.break.
For the woman that smiles at strangers all day in public- but weeps silently every night.
For the woman that heard the rumor about herself at church today.
For the woman sleeping next to a stranger every night.
For the woman whose genetics will never allow her to look like the ones in the magazines.
For the woman that endures one broken relationship after another because there was no father around to teach her what love looks like.
For the woman raising a fatherless daughter and praying that history doesn't repeat itself.
For every single woman that cries in the shower so that nobody else can see. Because if you aren't strong-nobody is.
Just because the water washes your tears doesn't mean that you don't cry.
I am you. I see you. I am with you, I cry with you.
For the woman who is mourning the loss of a pregnancy that nobody else knew about.
For the woman who was fired for her fourth tardy because she has been awake for a straight week with a sick child.
For the single mom who doesn't know how the utilities are going to stay on this month.
For the woman who has gone through 2 IVF's and has tried for five years without success but still shows up to every baby shower for her friends.
For the woman who still hasn't forgiven herself for the abortion that she had 20 years ago.
For the woman who has a line of judging eyes at her and her children as she slides her ebt card at the grocery store.
For the woman that opens the door to the news of her husband being killed overseas three weeks before he was to return home.
For the woman that lives a with a quiet anxiety because nobody understands what you could possibly stressed about.
For the woman that gives to her family all day- everyday and just.needs.a.break.
For the woman that smiles at strangers all day in public- but weeps silently every night.
For the woman that heard the rumor about herself at church today.
For the woman sleeping next to a stranger every night.
For the woman whose genetics will never allow her to look like the ones in the magazines.
For the woman that endures one broken relationship after another because there was no father around to teach her what love looks like.
For the woman raising a fatherless daughter and praying that history doesn't repeat itself.
For every single woman that cries in the shower so that nobody else can see. Because if you aren't strong-nobody is.
Just because the water washes your tears doesn't mean that you don't cry.
I am you. I see you. I am with you, I cry with you.
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