A couple of weeks ago, per invitation of the Women's Forum of our site, a former chief of staff of the company came and gave a speech about her professional career as a women. At the beginning of her talk, she played this short video called "The One Flaw in Women". It resonates with many of the audience and some people had tears in their eyes.

I want to post it in this blog because I want to share it with Olivia that she should be proud to be a woman. I want to tell her that there will be difficult times in her life, times when she feels lost, times when she can't seem to see her worth, times when she feels lonely… However, I strongly believe in her that she will have the strength and courage to get through all these and she should never forget about her worth and how remarkable she truly is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcolMLXEPq4

Women have strengths that amaze men

They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they hold happiness, love and joy.

They smile when they want to scream

They sing when they want to cry

They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous

They fight for what they believed in

They stand up to injustice

They don't take "no" for answer when they believe there is a better solution

They go without so their family can have

They go to the doctor with a frightened friend

They love unconditionally

They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards

They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding

Their hearts break when a friend dies

They grieve at the loss of a family member, yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left

They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart

Women come in with all shapes, sizes and colors

They will drive, fly, walk, run or email you to show how much they care

The heart of a woman is what keeps the world turning

They bring joy, hope and love

They have compassion and ideas

Women have vital things to say and everything to give

However, if there is one flow in women, it is this:

They forgot their worth and how remarkable they truly are!

The lady also mentioned a couple of family rules that really impacted her life when she grew up.  In her family, other than swear, rude, offensive words, the six kids were not allowed to use the word "can't".

She said: "'Can't' doesn't mean you can't, it means you don't want to. And that's okay but don't misunderstand 'can't' for 'I don't want to' or 'I don't want to for the following reasons'. Think about when you think you can't do something and remove the word "can't".  Really think through what makes you feel like you can't and understand that. It is a life skill because we grew up thinking we really could do anything and if we didn't do something was because we/I chose not to do it.  So it is just the burden from 'I can't' on the victim to 'I chose not to and I chose for the followings reasons'.  That's legitimate response to something but don't confuse the two.  (Understand the differences between the two) It begins to open up the way you see the world, the way how you see yourself, and perhaps even the responsibilities that you have in the choices you make not only for your life, but your career and many other things."

Think about it, what she said does make sense. Although I still think people are limited by their natural gifts to do certain things, most of the time when we say we "can't", it really means we "don't want to" because we don't want to put in the extra work, we don't want to go through the trouble, we are afraid of the failure ... and this is especially applicable to the kids.

I am going to try to instill this idea to Olivia and Evan and see how they take it. One of the women at work started this at home after the speech and her kids hated it, haha…I can imagine J.