Tap Into Your Potential

As a woman, how would you survive living in a country where three women are raped every second, you’re told whom you will marry, your future is to keep house and bear children (and they had better be boys!). You may be fortunate to get a university education, but your real role is to support your husband, keep him fed and ensure his happiness.

Having grown up in Canada and Australia, witnessing such treatment and expectations stirred something deep within me. It angered me. It activated my value for justice.

And as we celebrate International Women’s Day in 2019, how is it that some of our fellow sisters know these conditions to be their reality? Having enjoyed some time with the local people in this third world country, I soon became aware that many women there felt frustrated, trapped and oppressed and secretly wished for a different future.

It got me thinking about the roles we ‘play’ as women in western society. Yes, there are many beautiful, intelligent, courageous women doing amazing things in the world but in my experience working with female leaders, many are still plagued by an internal conflict around their identity, role, and purpose.

The feedback I receive consistently in our ‘Strive Women’s Program’ is that women continue to make commitments not to themselves, but to everyone around them including children, partners, friends, family, and colleagues. As women, we love to help support and enable others and are brilliant at keeping the peace. But, what I see time and again, is that ‘her’ needs go unnoticed, get overlooked and neglected. For many, being a woman today is a role of compromise and sacrifice for others. So on appearances, we look like we have it all, but the sub-text appears entirely different.

When we look at the women who inspire us with their achievements and their example, they are not women who play in the shadows and stay safe. They are not paralyzed by fears of rejection, humiliation or inadequacy. Women like Oprah, Merkl, and Sandberg have made commitments, but I would suggest, rate themselves and their needs much higher in their priority list. I also note that each of these women has chosen their own unique path to follow and do this in their own unique, authentic way.

Having worked with 100s of women, I marvel at women’s desire to stay within the realm of their familiar – never venturing far from their comfort zone. Plagued by fears of the unknown, failure, comparison and rejection keep women from ever truly living their truth as they watch their male counterparts surpass them.

So what needs to change? Shall we sit and wait for the world around us to change? Or shall we be the change we want to see?

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Gandhi

One of my favorite past times is to connect and learn from the wisdom of our elders. One exceptional lady in my life who is turning 90 this month, Dawn Scott shared with me the one great piece of knowledge she gained well in her 50s that’s made all the difference for her as a woman. Put just, she said, “To thine own self be true.”

What if we lived our truth? What if we chose to focus on our own pursuits rather than what others thought? What if we had complete faith in our abilities and developed a millionaire mindset? How would our world be different?

Questions to ponder

How could you back yourself more fully? 

How could you quiet your inner critic?

What might be different if you put your needs first?

Happy International Women’s Day to You!

Be Extraordinary!

Cindy Turner