It’s no news that Queen Bey is here to impart perspective-shifting lessons to our entire generation, but her September Vogue cover and interview took it to an INTIMATE level, when Beyoncé reminded each of us that our voice matters–and that we can be must be part of the paradigm shift.

September is on the horizon, peeps. We need to push forward in the right direction, and Queen Bey has some guiding light on how to do this. Here are 5 pieces of inspo from Vogue’s September issue that we all need now.

Growing older = becoming more powerful, and THAT is a good thing. It’s time to welcome this huge paradigm shift.

THIS: “I look at the woman I was in my twenties, and I see a young lady growing into confidence but intent on pleasing everyone around her. I now feel so much more beautiful, so much sexier, so much more interesting. And so much more powerful.”

Women growing older has never been celebrated in our culture, because with time comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes power, and powerful women are scary to a society built on patriarchal structures. But growing older actually rules. I, too, feel more powerful, more smart, more beautiful, and—oh my god, yeah—more interesting. With age comes the potency that living life to its fullest is all about. We can have that now.

We don’t have to demonize baby weight anymore!

Beyoncé shares intimate details of her birth: toxemia, an emergency C-section, being on bed rest for a month (“I was in survival mode”), and, yes, her weight the day her twins were born.

“After the birth of my first child, I believed in the things society said about how my body should look. I put pressure on myself to lose all the baby weight in three months and scheduled a small tour to assure I would do it. Looking back, that was crazy.”

I’ve always wondered why we feel pressured to lose baby weight or “bounce back” after pregnancy, which is a milestone that should be cherished and remembered. Bey says, “To this day, my arms, shoulders, breasts and thighs are fuller. I have a little mommy pouch, and I’m in no rush to get rid of it.” That’s an example we need more of; a post-pregnancy body can be worthy of a Vogue cover.

We are allowed to change our opinions and still have integrity.

It’s okay to look back on what we used to think and realize we don’t agree with ourselves anymore. If we’re creative people wanting to make our mark in the world, especially today, we have to be about change. We have to be willing to change our opinions and be humble enough to declare it.

Growth is a process of shedding ideas and beliefs that aren’t truly ours and getting closer to what is. We don’t need to judge ourselves for once believing what we now know to be crazy. Structures that once determined our collective values are crumbling. We’re experiencing it all now. Let it crumble, and stay humble!

And finally, some makeup inspo for the rest of us:

In terms of beauty (because Vogue), the makeup-less, hair extension-less look will set a bare-faced trend in motion for the fall. Bey’s make-up artist Sir John said, “This look was all about redefining glamorous as a state of mind.” THAT’S an attainable look.

Doors are blasting open for creators now, and Bey wants us to walk through them.

She said it: “Until there is a mosaic of perspectives coming from different ethnicities behind the lens, we will continue to have a narrow approach and view of what the world actually looks like. That is why I wanted to work with this brilliant twenty-three-year-old photographer Tyler Mitchell [the first black photographer to ever shoot a Vogue cover—yeah, it took Vogue 126 years to hire a black cover photographer]. I pray that I’m doing all I can to open doors for the next generation of talents.”

This cover served as an example for all creators. This is the time to do our thing like we can’t fail and to support others in rising up too. We don’t have to have a Vogue-sized platform to do it.