Aug. 8, 2017
As a woman who pushed to achieve what most women didn’t do - going to medical school at a time when they took ‘token females’ - it distresses me no end that in today’s world, even though over half the medical students are female, and increasing numbers of women crack the ‘glass ceiling’ in other areas, too many women still feel stressed, unappreciated and downtrodden in the professional arena and in the personal one as well. It is a world where women still don’t get equal pay, even though the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act passed in 2009 as a sequel to the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Women are still seen as inferior, but having abundant responsibility at home and work As women we need to start looking to ourselves for the place to solve the problems. If we don’t feel we are good enough and deserving inside ourselves, then we become our own set of obstacles. Mindset really makes the difference. Part of that mindset is to recognize that succeeding does NOT mean you are never criticized, it means you don't let that stop you. No matter your gender, ethnic group or other ‘issue’, learning to set your goals and go for them while believing in yourself and learning to tune out detractors is essential. No one who has truly achieved has waited for all the praise and cheers before starting their journey. They certainly didn’t wait for everyone to see them as perfect before they moved forward or they wouldn’t ever have started. Criticism and resistance from other people is just one of those obstacles one has to push through in life, not something you let stop you.. You are entitled to your success, but until you believe that, it won’t happen.
