The internet feels like a frightening place for women these days. Scrolling through social media feels like playing Minesweeper with misogynists. So when I saw a thread of women of color talking about their cycle-breaking achievements in their families, it felt I’d not just dodge an explosive, but also found a little portal of joy. In a post featuring X user @veyyahhh with a shawl draped over her head, flipping off the camera, she writes that she is the “first in the bloodline to travel without a husband.” You can feel the energy of a woman shedding the construct of needing a male protector (which is vastly different from a companion) to live her best life. The post, now viral, has more than 34 million views, 289K likes, and 20K retweets. A majority of these shares are from women — many from immigrant and marginalized backgrounds — sharing their own firsts. Graduating from a university, becoming a bestselling author, working as a female cinematographer, and getting a divorce are just some of the hundreds of firsts that women of color are celebrating online. Notably, even KATSEYE’s Lara Raj released a snippet of a new song on her social media called “First In My Bloodline” after it began trending online, where she sings, “First in my bloodline to have full autonomy.”For some, solo travel or graduating from college might not feel like revolutionary acts. But for daughters of immigrants like myself, there’s a reason they are the first in their bloodlines to access these moments. The women who came before us were often barred from prioritizing their dreams. Cultural expectations trumped any fantasies of autonomy they may have had.And yet, brick by brick, ancestor by ancestor, these accomplishments became accessible. I see myself in every single one of these women, and I feel the bittersweet lump in my stomach made of pride and condolence.To make this dream possible, mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers had to break down what were, at the time, nearly insurmountable rites of passage that often included uprooting their entire lives to move to a new country for an opportunity. Many of them intentionally set out to raise their daughters differently. I know firsthand that my ability to live, not just survive, is rooted in the sacrifices that my mother and every woman who came before her made on my behalf. And so, this is more than just a feel-good moment; these testimonials are a reminder we came come a line of women to broke generational curses. And they come at a time when we need them most, perhaps. In the United States alone, we’ve witnessed a year-long increasing assault on the rights of women — especially women of color. Reproductive autonomy is being severely restricted, workplace protections are being rolled back, and women of color in power are being targeted for standing up for their communities. At the same time (not coincidentally) “soft life” and “trad wife” trends are being shoved down women’s throats online, idealizing an unflinching devotion to husbands and children — and judgment toward any other variation of existence. In what seems to be a time of hopelessness for women’s advancement, these “first in my bloodline” posts feel like a beacon of hope, evidence of progress, and a form of resistance. In the comments, alongside women sharing their own firsts, others share how these posts have inspired them to chase their own firsts. “I can’t wait to do the ‘first in the bloodline trend’ someday,” one woman wrote. “Cant wait to achieve my goals and then add on to this,” another added. This is how simple it is to create change. While there are cynics in the comments (as there are in all X posts nowadays), they are outnumbered by the women determined to accomplish firsts of their own. Though the lifespan of a viral trend is typically short, this is one I’m hoping continues to inspire women to go after their dreams — and help us give props to the ones who paved the way.