Choose To Challenge – Empower Blog

I am writing this dispatch on International Women’s Day. I learned this morning that the inaugural celebration of womanhood happened in 1911. I learned that on this day we are to celebrate the social, cultural, economic, and political achievements of women. I learned that March 8th is a day set aside each year as a call to action for accelerating gender parity. There have been significant achievements for women over the past 110 years. And yet, it seems to me that taking action to make a positive difference for women is now, more than ever, an individual and imperative pledge. The toll of disparity has been endured by men, women, families, businesses, and cultures worldwide — for too long.

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is Choose to Challenge. My intention in my weekly blog postings has been to challenge. Always to challenge. Indirectly by sharing my own experiences. Directly by stating my commitments.

Today ~

I choose to challenge my attachment to what people think of me

I choose to challenge my anxiety over making future plans

I choose to challenge the voice inside my head telling me I will be left out

I choose to challenge my belief that I am not good at decorating

I choose to challenge my story that I was lucky – not good

I choose to challenge the aching joints in my hands

I choose to challenge the stigma of addiction

I choose to challenge the conspiracy of silence around mental illness and suicide

I choose to challenge the niggling pain in my right knee on hill climbs

I choose to challenge my conviction that I must make everyone happy

I choose to challenge judgments based on my gender

I choose to challenge those who refuse to hear my voice

I choose to challenge the mundane and ordinary

I choose to challenge unfair assumptions

I choose to challenge the critical childhood messages still playing in my head

I choose to challenge my depleted fashion sense

I choose to challenge my critical eye as I look in the mirror

I choose to challenge the amount of screen time consuming my time and energy

I choose to challenge my creative energy

I choose to challenge the women in my life to be empowered

I  choose to challenge myself to live purposefully, powerfully, and presently

Twenty-one conscious choices. Twenty-one surges of energy. Twenty-one commitments to change.

                         At least, that is my experience. International Women’s Day 2021.