By Sophie Leonard
This weekend, I was in Halifax, NS attending an International Women’s Day conference held by the Network for the Empowerment of Women (empowerment-women.com). This conference was an amazing opportunity to recognize, promote, and enhance women’s achievements. We covered topics from purpose and fear, to saving and investing your money, writing skills for business, and women shared their personal journeys and life stories.
One of my biggest takeaways was understanding that you can’t grow in your comfort zone. By stepping outside of that safe place, you can see beyond what you think you are capable of doing and achieving. If you never try, then you will never know what you are capable of or reach your full potential. Personal doubt kills more dreams than failures ever will, and this is something we talk a lot about with our high school girls in the Step Up! Program.
We need to shift our mindsets from being fixed to open for growth. Having a growth mindset is when you believe that through dedication and hard work you can develop your skills. It’s important to continue to remind ourselves to move forward with purpose and not fear, to set goals, to look for learning opportunities and to grow while we tackle new projects, skills, and challenges in our life.
We learn at a young age that words are powerful, but we cannot allow them to dictate our life and thinking. A woman from the conference spoke to this subject, she said, “Words are like seeds and over time they grow inside you and create greater impact. They take up more space, but we can’t water the bad seeds.” We can’t allow labels and other opinions bring us down but instead, turn them into motivators.
Over the two days, I learned something that’s going to stick with me for a long time. It’s that whenever someone says, “You can’t do something” instead of believing them or convincing them otherwise, simply respond “Watch me!”. They will remember you and will be watching you while they have long disappeared from your memory. Trust and believe in yourself, persevere through the setbacks but be kind to yourself during the journey.
Often, women fear vulnerability, failure, and setbacks. We don’t want to ask for help. But, being strong does not mean being silent. I think this is something we can all relate to. Once you start asking for help, coaching, and guidance you start building a strong support system and then you will become fearless.
Thank you, Network for the Empowerment of Women for hosting this event and introducing me to amazing, strong women. I am feeling refreshed, motivated and inspired to discover myself and to transgress those societal roles that are expected of me as a woman. I am at the beginning of my career, in the process of figuring out my passions and dreams and this has reminded me to be 100% myself unapologetically.
