After being diagnosed with hypertension / high blood pressure, I decided I needed to de-stress. Laughing, my brother told me I needed to take a 6-month vacation, but we both knew that was not possible! Shortly after this conversation, I emailed a travel agent friend and told her I wanted to go somewhere warm right after Christmas with my husband, Carter. I booked a trip to St. Lucia. I felt I needed to relax, and it would be great to connect with Carter outside our business conversations and taking care of the children.
If you know me, I must be removed from civilization to stop thinking about work. Mostly because I love to work, or better said, think about work. To be honest, I have discovered that relaxing does not come easy to me. I am bored sitting, doing nothing. I like an adventure! Discovering the great unknown, the new… This is why I told my friend that even though I wanted to go to an all-inclusive resort, I needed a mountain or waterfall or something to go explore. I can’t just drink and sit. Having said that, it was also ‘doctor’s orders’ to relax. So, I set the out-of-office response in my email and turned my phone services off. It is great to have a team you can trust in your absence!
On the way to the island thinking about how to relax, I remembered a conversation with a lady from my church. She had asked me if I ever just sat and watched TV. I answered ‘rarely’ and she was clearly shocked. On the plane, I decided to look through the in-flight movies. Carter always sleeps on planes, so I was solo. The featured movie was “The Wife”. I was intrigued but told myself “no girl power” movies. I picked “Colette” thinking I had made a romantic pick to inspire the awe of a couples’ trip. I finished the movie, and with two hours to go, I decided to also watch “The Wife”. Not to spoil the movies, but they were both full of girl power! Both movies were about beautiful writers where the leading ladies began writing for their loves… to them even. But life happens and they realize the cards are stacked against them. The men both had affairs and published their writings under their name. They began to feel used and undervalued. They have great talents that are pushed to the background. The stories were tragic, but when I got home and heard Glenn Close’s speech at the Golden Globes. I thought, now that lady just made a difference! I loved this quote:
“And I feel what I’ve learned from this whole experience is that women, you know, we’re nurturers, that’s what’s expected of us. We have our children, we have our husbands if we’re lucky enough and our partners, whoever. But we have to find personal fulfillment. We have to follow our dreams. We have to say, I can do that and I should be allowed to do that.”
It spoke to me in many ways! But… I am jumping ahead.
Carter and I had a wonderful trip, truly unplugged, and had a great time! You can see our silly pictures in a Facebook album. I had a wonderful, relaxing, exciting, fun time. But even in my “I’m not working mode”, I saw my work everywhere. From water treatment to infrastructure to women entrepreneurs in the market…even the book I read mentioned men often see women’s success as their failure. This needs to change…today!
We have often heard great men are supported by great women. But shouldn’t this be just as true: “Great women are supported by great men!” Think about it! What needs to change for this to be true?!
“Men and Women are Different but Equally Valuable.” This quote from breaking boundaries says it best: “The notion of different but equally valuable requires insight and time to learn.”
I found it fascinating that on a couples’ trip to a tropical island, I was seeing the importance of Empowering Women. It is almost like the confirmation you need to continue your work. The inner voice in my head was leading me back to what is important. All things leading back to building a great Empowering Women in Industry event.
Stay tuned… and check out: EmpoweringWomeninIndustry.com