As I sit here writing this article about Men, it’s Mother’s Day. There is no better time to reflect on the Man in the Woman. Why you ask? Stay with me here because I need to explain myself from both sides.
The Man has always been stigmatized as the pillar of strength, the go to person when big things needed to get done or hard decisions needed to be made. They were the breadwinner, the strong shoulder, the fixer of all things, the final say.
On Our day we take the privilege to toot our own horn without shame or guilt, we are proud to be the go to person for the little people, the glue that keeps it and us all together. Mother’s Day allows us to embody our strengths and stand up to this gender-biased world. We are women hear us roar, right?
Nowadays we have a blend of both the old and the liberated roles. I grew up in a traditional home where dad went to work, mom stayed home and ironed. They were married for 49 years. Nothing wrong with any of that.
My kids are growing up in a divorced household and have been for 10 years now. Their dad is great and very active in their lives and shares all the responsibilities of a parent. Regardless, I still need to be the Man and the Woman, in the traditional sense because I am liberated, hear me roar, kinda thing.
Women are awesome creatures. We stand tall, fight dirty when we have to, multi-task till the cows come home and take charge when ever, however we need to. Now I am going to ruffle a few feathers here (shocking I know). We do these things…. for others. Not so much for ourselves.
I am an advocate for women in both business and in life and here is how I see it. When it comes to a Woman going for, asking for, wanting something for herself, she fails miserably. I am so generalizing this statement but I too (the epitome of going after what she wants), have been guilty of this.
We are so amazing at helping others rise to the top of their game, but we stay in the bleachers of our own life. The golden few that claw their way to the top are categorized as a ‘bitch’, ‘aggressive’, ‘selfish’. “She must be lonely”. Well it is lonely at the top, as they say, because not enough people strive to get there.
If you have a dream to be something, to do something, to want more then stop using other people’s dreams (including your children’s) as an excuse to not go for yours. Stop hiding behind everyone else’s needs before your own. Men don’t do this so why should we?
We, as role model’s to our children, must step into our lives, take masterful ownership of it and play full out. It is hypocritical if we push and prod our children to ‘do their best’, when we play half-assed.
Be the academy award winner of your true story.