International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day, a global day on March 8th to recognize the achievements of women and marks a call to action for gender parity, was embraced all over the world this week with endless events and social media shares  to celebrate how fabulous and empowered women are and should feel.

In celebration of International Women’s day, I wanted to share about the strength in women.   Do you have women in your life you can count on and look up to?  Whether she’s your mother, aunt, sister, mother, co-worker or bestie, I’m willing to bet she has some if not all of the following characteristics of strength.

1. Independent  –  she’s always willing to learn and be self-sufficient, she wants to take care of herself by doing her own thing and thrives when she has the freedom to make her own decisions
2. Reflects and Thinks – she takes the time to  think deeply and reflect on situations.  Puts herself in other peoples shoes to understand multiple perspectives.  She gathers her thoughts in order to be careful about her words and actions and considers the cause and effect of them.
3. Imperfect – she accepts the fact she isn’t perfect and admits she doesn’t know everything but makes an effort to improve and learn as much as she can.
4. Vulnerable – she recognizes that it’s ok to be emotional and this is her strength rather than her weakness.  She knows that opening up and being honest and letting others in will let others truly get to know you.
5. Forgiving – because she knows she isn’t perfect she knows others aren’t either. She’ll apologize when she makes a mistake and forgives others when they do the same. She understands that being angry isn’t the solution to mistakes but learning from them and forgiving herself and others is best.
6. Positive  – she knows being negative and judgmental and talking badly about people can be toxic. She makes a habit of avoiding this.
7. Perceptive – she can easily recognize people who are genuine and those who are not. She knows who her true friends are and knows when to walk away from toxic relationships.
8. Authentic – she’s real, she’s honest and she’s genuine in what she says and does.  She’s trustworthy and means what she says.  Her motives are never questioned because she truly cares and stands by her word.
9. Appreciates – she says thank you a lot and expresses her gratitude in all honesty.  She values every person and considers them a blessing in her life.
10. Believes & Supports – she will always believe and give her 100% support to the people she is in relationship with.  She will stay and stand by you through think and thin.  She will always encourage you and have your best interest in mind

Do you recognize some of these characteristics in the women in your life?  If so, I’d love to hear about who they are and how they have impacted your life.   Let’s embrace them.  Appreciate them.  Learn to be more like them.  I bet you even possess most if not all these characteristics yourself.  Let’s celebrate our strengths together.

Happy International Women’s Day!

Photos by Suhyeon Choi, Becca Tapert and Kelsey Knight