It’s my drama and I’ll cry if I want to…

First of all I know this sounds like a stomach-churning truth, but I absolutely delight in hearing friends of mine discuss their relationship troubles.

Horrible I know!

But in a way it validates my choice to stay stubbornly single. And it reminds me that the glow of relationships only burns as brightly as I imagine in the honeymoon period.

But I have so typically diverted the subject back to me. Bad me.

Anyway, I have discovered that the girls I know who have enrolled themselves into the ranks of the ‘strong female army’ have feelings too. It is just a case of breaking them.

This can involve calorific treats or a wine-soaked soiree, but over time this soldier will soften and not pull rank.

I am fortunate enough to know some independent, feisty spirited women who have sub-consciously enlisted in this boot camp. I know – for I have wisely decided to go AWOL.

We are trained to fight on, to not question our innate vulnerability that comes with being a female, and to not succumb to a healthy barrage of self-pity. We are the women who bounce back from a long-hard battle of ego bashing and wear the brave smile as a badge to our dazzling armour.

But enough is enough. A semi-retired soldier can penetrate this built-in mind-set and encourage a disruption to protocol.

Because you are only as strong as the tears you allow yourself to shed on the battleground.

And that’s a true soldier’s soldier – a woman that lets her guard down.