There’s one thing I know…

Women are beautiful, on every level.

Women have so many gifts and talents and are truly inspiring.

I have had the amazing pleasure of interviewing women over the age of 70, who stepped outside the norm for their day and age – they worked or got educated.

Now today that doesn’t sound like much. Women get educated and work all the time. Women now hold jobs from cashier to Prime Minister to running their own successful businesses. Women are getting PhD’s in every faculty. Women are holding down important jobs. But it wasn’t always this way. And if it weren’t for the women before us who did try something different then we’d all still be locked in roles where we weren’t always respected or honored.

Today is International Woman’s Day.

It is a day to honor all women – past, present and future. Women are making amazing changes in the world. We are starting to see our value and therefor each other. We are starting to lift each other up. To be there for each other. To see the good in each other even when we don’t always show up that way.

Women supporting women in going for their dreams, is one of the greatest gifts of our day.

It is a day to honor each other and ourselves. Recognize all that you’ve done. Recognize all that you want to do. And know that it is possible.

What did I learn?

The truth is that everyone has a story. Everyone has been through some hard times. Everyone has had some good times. It’s what you focus on and hold onto that matters.

And every one of the women that I interviewed had wanted something different, so they found a way to make it happen. Some had support to do that and some didn’t.

Women are fascinating. They are strong and independent, they are soft and loving and everything in between.

But…

We forget our value. We forget to honor ourselves and who we are.

The one thing that each of the women I interviewed had in common was that they didn’t see what they had done as anything special or outside the norm. But it truly was. Some had to overcome some incredible odds to do what they did.

Just to give you an idea of why it was something pretty special:

– in the early 1950’s 24% of women were working

– only 20% of those attending post secondary were women. For an example: My mom graduated from University in 1951, 1 of 2 women in a class of 126

Now imagine this:

– they had no cell phones
They had to find a phone to use and then they couldn’t use it often as it was too expensive.
And some of the families didn’t have a phone either.

– they didn’t have emails.
To keep in touch they sent letters that could take weeks or months to arrive.

– they didn’t have transportation
They had to rely on trains, buses and even horse and wagons.

– they didn’t have supports
Sometimes they were very isolated, no one to ask for help, no or little resources to do their jobs

What I love about the times we’re in, is that anything is possible.

Today, it’s time to stop and thank all the women in your life, all the women who have come before you and all the women who are currently in your life.

Each one of us has lived with and struggled with our own beliefs of not being enough.

But it’s time to change that and to know that what you do matters. Who you are matters.

We are enough…

If there is anything that you spend time on today – focus on how you show up. How can you brighten someone else’s day today?

I’d love to hear what you do.