My biggest fear is the high expectations I set for myself. No, it’s not heights, or great white sharks, and it definitely has nothing to do with failing to find a husband before I’m thirty. I have big dreams and sometimes these dreams seem daunting instead of exciting. Sometimes society leads me to believe that my dreams are impossible to accomplish. Sometimes I wish they were smaller.
Certain people in my life remind me that this mindset SO wrong. I grew up in a family that inspired me through their successes and pushed me to create my own. I have a strong, creative, and selfless mother. I have a talented, brave, and intelligent sister. I have a generous and compassionate grandmother who was the first person in her family to come to America.
Along with the wonderful women in my family, I also have father who taught me that saying you “can’t” do something is worse than saying a swear word. He taught me to go the extra mile, to never take no for an answer, and to invest all I have in what I am truly passionate about.
Through my family members, I learned that my biggest fear isn’t limiting, but empowering. It’s actually one of the qualities I admire most in myself: my ambition.
https://www.youtube.com/c/ToryBurchFoundation
Tory Burch started the Tory Burch Foundation to support the empowerment of women in 2009. The foundation was started by Tory Burch herself after she faced the inevitable challenges of being a mother and a business owner. You can learn more about this foundation here.
I saw this video on National Women’s day last week, and aside from a lot of other things, it reminded me that National Women’s day is simply a reminder not to forget that this holiday should be celebrated every day. If we want the future to be female than we need to focus on today. Today, and every day, women need to be reminded that ambition is not a quality we need to demean, justify, or disguise as a fear. It’s not embarrassing to be driven. It’s not impractical to dream big. And it’s not “manly” to be proud of the high expectations you set for yourself.
I am lucky to have a family that supports and motivates me. And I am lucky to be going to an amazing school that provides me with infinite opportunities. But, my strength, bravery, and ambition are not qualities I attained by chance. It’s something I am proud of, and something every woman should celebrate and foster into success.
