Champion Our Magnificence

Within the 'Thought for Today' feature on the radio this morning the speaker talked about the importance of women vocalising their success and it got me thinking about how we measure the achievements of ourselves and other women. I follow inspirational speaker Kubi Springer on Instagram and have read one of her books about building a strong brand. I like the way she writes and enjoy listening to her motivational speeches, but it always bugs me that her benchmark for whether or not you are successful (in business anyway) is what car you drive and how big your house is.

It seems to me that when evaluating the worth of anyone these days (not just women) society has a tendency to base calculations on the amount of money we earn, the area we live in and how many holidays we can afford rather than the actual level of success we have achieved.

Image with thanks to (C) Opera For All

On ​International Women's Day, we often hear about women who are championed because they have broken the mould and made a pathway into male dominated areas. We see praise for female engineers and mathematicians for example. Women who work in areas traditionally dominated by men. I am not saying this is a bad thing - my daughter is a Design Engineer and I am so incredibly proud of her, especially given all the discrimination and misogeny she has come across over the course of her working life, but shouldn't we be championing ALL women regardless of their chosen careers?

For me, converting another crocheter to the benefits of our craft is a win. Hearing how crochet has changed someone's life is  another win. Seeing how women support each other in the craft world - win win win! None of these achievements has a monetary value and no price tags can be placed on the joy people experience making projects either. To me, the worth of a hand made gift is immeasurable - the ultimate love token!

Over the course of my career I have met some of the most amazing women, many of whom have totally changed my life. My little Janie Crow team is predominantly made up of incredible, strong, loving and funny trail blazing women who have supported me in so many ways, both on a work and personal level, but I have also found that in broader society women can be their own worst critics, especially on social media, where we are often reminded to be kind and thoughtful.

​We lost Andy's amazing sister to bowel cancer recently. At her funeral everyone spoke of her amazing personality. Of the love she had for her family and her incredible courage in the face of her illness. Julie worked as a teaching assistant and always put the joy of children to the forefront of her life. She was a loving wife, a doting mother to three incredible children and an amazing daughter, sister and friend. Her worth is not measured on the basis of the career she chose, what car she drove or how much money she made in her lifetime, it is based on her incredible gift for loving and looking after people - her own in-built magnificence. Our lives will never be the same without her.

In 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' Steve Covey talks about how we should all live our lives with 'the end in mind'. In other words, by continuously thinking about how we want to be remembered and on what we want our achievements to be based. For International Women's Day 2022, in a world where social media tells us we should 'have, have, have', I am reminding myself today of the importance of championing and supporting ALL women regardless of how traditional society measures worth.

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