Wherever you look these days, it’s all about the empowerment of women and girls. The global movement supporting and encouraging women to take leadership roles, to excel in the traditionally male-dominated industries as well as the access girls have to becoming scientists and engineers, is creating incredible and extraordinary changes for women everywhere.
Yet, it does appear as if the world is holding its collective breath. It seems to watch and wait to see what happens next before declaring that yes, women have made it. Unfortunately, the issue of self-confidence or rather the lack of it, continues to be the elephant in the room for many of us.
Destructive repetitive paralysis
By buying into our own limiting beliefs (that we are not good enough, no one will listen to us, we are not worth it and other negative statements of the same type) we habitually and unintentionally stand in our own way to success. We get stuck in the cycle of destructive repetitive paralysis; the cycle that disempowers us in moving forward because we lack confidence in our abilities and in ourselves.
And many of us insist on going it alone. Rather than reaching out to other women and asking for help to dislodge the paralysis and support us, we tend to retreat and try to figure it out by ourselves. It’s such a painful and debilitating cycle, it’s no wonder we end up losing any shred of self-confidence we possess. I believe removing the elephant from the room is the answer, and to do so we must connect with other women: encouraging each other whilst encouraging ourselves, as well as promoting and advocating positive female role models.
Female conversations and connections are captivating and unique to women. Our discussions are full of profound passion and inspiration; we identify with each other’s experiences; we sense a familiarity in stories that are shared; we celebrate the resilience and strength we see in each other. We have the power to nurture and motivate one another to become brilliant. In this type of environment, where we are supported and supporting each other, our self-confidence is unshakeable.
The elephant leaves the room.
Oddly your article reminded me of a time when I was in college. There was a friend I viewed as outgoing and confident. He confided to me that I really got it wrong. However, what he told me was that he simply did not let that stop him.
Now this may seem off the subject, but he always dated intelligent and attractive women even though he wasn’t what most women would call handsome or cute. He told me he got the dates because he asked.
I’ve taken that advice into other areas of my life and found it true. Taking the first step is often the hardest, but if you do often you are happily suprised at the result you never though you could achieve.