Throughout March with International Women's Day coming early on and its Women's History Month designation, I meant to do a series of posts about the various states of women. Here we are two days before the end of the month and this is the first one. The best laid plans, right?
Coming home from an event Sunday night celebrating women, Debbie and I were talking about how much of women's empowerment messaging is tied up in achievements like being a boss and shattering glass ceilings, as if we're only worthy if we do those things. While there were some awesome bosses and glass ceiling shatterers presenting Sunday, this was not the messaging of the event we attended, but as all good events do it sparked a lot of off-shoot conversations on the 45 minute ride home.
As a feminist, I love women who are bosses and shatter glass ceilings. I certainly want all of us regardless of gender, race, orientation, etc., to have equal opportunity and ability to be the boss and ascend to the highest levels in all fields.
Coming home from an event Sunday night celebrating women, Debbie and I were talking about how much of women's empowerment messaging is tied up in achievements like being a boss and shattering glass ceilings, as if we're only worthy if we do those things. While there were some awesome bosses and glass ceiling shatterers presenting Sunday, this was not the messaging of the event we attended, but as all good events do it sparked a lot of off-shoot conversations on the 45 minute ride home.
As a feminist, I love women who are bosses and shatter glass ceilings. I certainly want all of us regardless of gender, race, orientation, etc., to have equal opportunity and ability to be the boss and ascend to the highest levels in all fields.
But mostly I want women to know who they are and be happy with who they are even as they're working on who they might become next. That goes for all of us, from the glass ceiling breaker to the world traveler who works when she needs to to the stay at home mom and all the millions of us in between.
There's an art to appreciating who you are in this moment while knowing that you are not finished growing into who you will become because we're never finished becoming who we are. In this fast world, society pushes us to constantly think ahead to what we're going to do and be next and I wonder if that art form of appreciating where you are right now is dying.
If you are the woman who has the drive and determination to be the boss and break down the barriers, I support you. If you are not that woman and don't want to be that woman, I support you. It takes all of us to make this world go around.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to set the world on fire. There's nothing wrong if that sounds like too much to you.
There's nothing wrong with living what you consider to be a regular life. There's nothing wrong if that sounds like not enough to you.
We're each on our own path, and we must allow for that and encourage each other when our paths cross, resisting the urge to push everyone down the path we have chosen for ourselves. We all have this one life to do with what WE want.
Don't let the world make you feel like you are not enough or that your life and what you want from it and what you're doing with it is not enough. Don't let the world make you feel like you're too much or that your life and what you want from it or what you're doing with it is too much.
The only person who decides what's enough or too much is you.
There's an art to appreciating who you are in this moment while knowing that you are not finished growing into who you will become because we're never finished becoming who we are. In this fast world, society pushes us to constantly think ahead to what we're going to do and be next and I wonder if that art form of appreciating where you are right now is dying.
If you are the woman who has the drive and determination to be the boss and break down the barriers, I support you. If you are not that woman and don't want to be that woman, I support you. It takes all of us to make this world go around.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to set the world on fire. There's nothing wrong if that sounds like too much to you.
There's nothing wrong with living what you consider to be a regular life. There's nothing wrong if that sounds like not enough to you.
We're each on our own path, and we must allow for that and encourage each other when our paths cross, resisting the urge to push everyone down the path we have chosen for ourselves. We all have this one life to do with what WE want.
Don't let the world make you feel like you are not enough or that your life and what you want from it and what you're doing with it is not enough. Don't let the world make you feel like you're too much or that your life and what you want from it or what you're doing with it is too much.
The only person who decides what's enough or too much is you.
