Learning Diary of a Woman!

What is better way to express the awe of being a woman than to write the experience of being one. Today I want to tell a truth. I think I did not like being a girl. Truth be told, I am not sure I still do. 

I don't feel like woman, except for the fact that yes, I am one and to prove the same I have two children but above and beyond, there is nothing is my demeanour that would quality 'lady like' or so I have been told. 

I am super passionate about the stuff I do and as a result I have been 'told' that I am emotional. My face expressed everything and as a result I never got away with emotional outbursts. 

I am bad in the looks departments, not because of how I look per se, but because, I don't care enough. Is this to say that had I been a  guy I would have gotten away with it. I can hope so, not sure though. 

Decision Making- I am supposed to take decisions but never ever ever be adamant about it and I have to take everyone's 'feelings' into cognizance. My sister who is single keeps asking me, how do you do it? My answer to her is we all do irrespective of gender. However with women the thought process is different, they think about others first and then try and work for a win win solution. With men, with it is a problem and solution approach. Win- win requires too much work

Is this a personality issue or a gender issue. Partly both because quiet a lot was expected in keeping with gender expectation. To say that opposite gender do not have their set of problems would be an understatement, but I suppose grass is always greener on the other side. Back to the writing. Today as I wish every one a Happy Woman's day, I ask myself, why especially since I am super complaining. 

Pandemic did a lot of things for us, for me, and one of things was it gave me perspective. I connected with a strong group of women, who made me feel appreciated and helped me believe in me in the most surprising way possible. That was just the beginning. To empower woman as a catalyst and to get into self empowerment are two different things. 

When women work together they form force which is impenetrable giving each other the much required support and love that they keep longing for. 

Today as a woman, I feel stronger not because a sudden epiphany, but because I have learnt that being woman is a strength that makes me stronger and knowing that I am not alone. I have  with me my sisters who will raise me, encourarage me, and won't leave me down. 

I also know that when one woman is unable to support she will send me ten different hands to pick me up but rest assured, women will not leave me alone. We will come up and grow together.  

Understanding Learning Challeges

The entrepreneurial journey is very lonely. After a point of time, the initial fire starts to die down and all you are left with some smoke. The days when you also start to really challenge yourself to judge and question yourself. This is also around the same time when others have started seeing some work which you are doing, so there is a definite sense of recognition there.     

When I started working on my working with Youth challenges one of the core challenges faced by youth today is isolation/loneliness. It wasn't until recently that I realized what it means. Here is how the realization came about. 

I had joined Leadership Program. The one-month program had all the participants on their toes. We were connected, drawing from each other. We felt motivated, inspired, there was a strong competitive spirit which also helped us focus more, encouraged us to better. The program ended sometime in February. .It is March today. Even though we struggled during the program, our biggest challenge was post it was to keep ourselves motivated. But in this journey I realized a couple of thing about why my son was having difficulty in studying-

• Being Self Motivated is Challenging
• There are more periods of lows in a journeys of learning than high 
• The constant pressure doesn't really help- from Parents, peers, friends, competitions.
• Getting distracted is natural and putting ourselves back on track is difficult.

 

Children, students, PHD scholars, are all facing the same dilemma. Not knowing, fear of missing out or being left behind, often leads to fear, anxiety and lack of self worth. It is natural at this time that students depend heavily on social media for connections and sometimes expect the same kind of connect that  they had been expecting from a personal connect only to be disappointed. 

Developing relationships at young change is already a challenge and to make it virtual, makes it risky and challenging at the same time. Some points to navigate this challenge smoothly is

1. Communication- Keep channels of communication open with children and young adults. Let them speak, even if you don't like what they are talking about. (easier said than done)
2. Let Go- Once in a while, it is okay to just let go of the sense of control we need to have in our children's life. We need to let go. 
3. Offer Support- No battle is won alone. Offer support or let them know that there is support available outside also if they are not comfortable coming to you, obviously you will need to be  okay with it. Incase you yourself are at loss, ask for support for yourself. No one can do it by themselves. 

We do have vaccines for COVID but for preventing ourselves against the emotional and psychological impact of the pandemic we will need to be more prepared emotionally and psychologically. Take a step back, take a deep breath and focus on what you can do today- your effort. The rest will take care of itself. All the best.