Hi y'all
It's been quite the week. The last couple of days I was in Scotland following a masterclass on great fundraising by Alan Clayton and his equally amazing team. An intense week identifying the issues charities want to resolve and the powerful messages they portray to achieve their goals. Inspiring seems like a blank word, a non word. It was so much more. We laughed, we shared, we talked, we helped each other identify what might be the barrier and when the last words were uttered non of us felt like we crossed the finish line. Non of us. We all felt like we just entered the coral, legs itching and hands tingling, brains fired up thinking let's GO!
When you spent time with your peers away from home, away from your loved ones and in a situation when you're constantly challenged on one hand and taken care off at the other that's where conversation happens and where humans start to share and it's at that time when you let some of your carefully build up guard drop. Sitting at the hearth, wine (or whiskey) in your hand and just a few people left that probably like you have too many images to sleep anyway, that's where conversation happens. There's been some really good ones and I really don't want to rank any of them because I'm in awe with all the people that felt comfortable enough to share their story with me but one of them is what triggered me to write this blogpost today. Because today is international women day.
Like so many other times before I've heard this past week that I am (and I'm parafrasing here) a:
powerhouse, a character, a strong woman, a go-getter, a force to be reckoned with and some other synonyms for a woman who speaks her mind, is uncompromising, knows what she wants and has the bouncebackability to get it. Both genders have told me this again. Apart from my own insecurity immediatly getting in the way thinking 'apperently I'm that uncomfortable person nobody wants to be around', there's been this nagging thought gnawing my brain whispering 'this is an issue' and I'd like to use today's space to tell you why.
As a runner I have gotten used to explaining why I want to run a marathon to other humans most of them of the female kind. I'm used to women telling me that they could never do it and I'm used to men telling me that I am a practical, decisive, powerhouse. I have gotten so used to it that I haven't noticed the sheer problem in it until I sat at that fireplace talking to two great, honest and fun men who unknowingly turned the gnawing thought into a concrete example of the topic we were discussing; international women day.
When women are all the things I mentioned above we are called powerhouses, forces of nature and all other kind of synonyms linking our ambition, our resolve, our need to achieve goals to forms of energy. Now that by itself isn't the problem because even men are sometimes (be it far less) called names like that, however...when you start calling women powerhouses, forces to be reckoned with or strong you immediatly single them out, put them on a stand and by doing so you are (probably unwantingly) calling all other women what exactly? Weak? Mediocre? Less?
One of the best commercials I saw over the past years is the Serena Williams one by Nike. The dream crazier one. I've copy-pasted the words below, you can google the video itself. The message is a powerful one because it exposes exactly what women like me face. We're scrutinized for being bold, loud, dramatic, uncomfortable, uncompromising and wanting to win. The moment you stick your head out, the moment you want to be better, do better, achieve more you're facing a long journey in solitude learning to fit in but never quite make it work, learning to feed thoughts but never own them because succes should be a team thing, learning to slow-down because the rest can't keep up and you'll learn to give up simply because there are no other women to mentor you into an inspirational leader. There hardly are any so how can you learn from the best when the best are a handful and those truely are way too busy to share the trade. Being a woman wanting to be the best, wanting to succeed in whatever it is you do, is still something you can't say outloud and not be called anything for it whereas men hardly face this.
So today as we venture out on our runs, walks, swims, bikerides or tri's let us think of an inspirational woman, one you wish to jobshadow for just a day to see how she got to be where she is now and when you've come up with that woman be bold and e-mail her. Tell her who you are and why you want to jobshadow her for a day, tell her why she inspires you and tell her what it is you hope to learn from her. If you succeed on landing that jobshadow than share your story with us and hopefully you will be that spark for someone else. I will leave you with the inspiring words of the -dream crazier - commercial by Nike and the sheer wish that we evolve as human beings because honestly? It is an outrage that we still need international women day today.
Be the spark that ignites a fire
Until we read again, as always
Love Marlies
DREAM CRAZIER
If we show emotion, we're called dramatic. If we want to play against men, we're nuts. And if we dream of equal opportunity, we're delusional. When we stand for something, we're unhinged. When we're too good, there's something wrong with us. And if we get angry, we're hysterical, irrational, or just being crazy.
It's been quite the week. The last couple of days I was in Scotland following a masterclass on great fundraising by Alan Clayton and his equally amazing team. An intense week identifying the issues charities want to resolve and the powerful messages they portray to achieve their goals. Inspiring seems like a blank word, a non word. It was so much more. We laughed, we shared, we talked, we helped each other identify what might be the barrier and when the last words were uttered non of us felt like we crossed the finish line. Non of us. We all felt like we just entered the coral, legs itching and hands tingling, brains fired up thinking let's GO!
When you spent time with your peers away from home, away from your loved ones and in a situation when you're constantly challenged on one hand and taken care off at the other that's where conversation happens and where humans start to share and it's at that time when you let some of your carefully build up guard drop. Sitting at the hearth, wine (or whiskey) in your hand and just a few people left that probably like you have too many images to sleep anyway, that's where conversation happens. There's been some really good ones and I really don't want to rank any of them because I'm in awe with all the people that felt comfortable enough to share their story with me but one of them is what triggered me to write this blogpost today. Because today is international women day.
Like so many other times before I've heard this past week that I am (and I'm parafrasing here) a:
powerhouse, a character, a strong woman, a go-getter, a force to be reckoned with and some other synonyms for a woman who speaks her mind, is uncompromising, knows what she wants and has the bouncebackability to get it. Both genders have told me this again. Apart from my own insecurity immediatly getting in the way thinking 'apperently I'm that uncomfortable person nobody wants to be around', there's been this nagging thought gnawing my brain whispering 'this is an issue' and I'd like to use today's space to tell you why.
As a runner I have gotten used to explaining why I want to run a marathon to other humans most of them of the female kind. I'm used to women telling me that they could never do it and I'm used to men telling me that I am a practical, decisive, powerhouse. I have gotten so used to it that I haven't noticed the sheer problem in it until I sat at that fireplace talking to two great, honest and fun men who unknowingly turned the gnawing thought into a concrete example of the topic we were discussing; international women day.
When women are all the things I mentioned above we are called powerhouses, forces of nature and all other kind of synonyms linking our ambition, our resolve, our need to achieve goals to forms of energy. Now that by itself isn't the problem because even men are sometimes (be it far less) called names like that, however...when you start calling women powerhouses, forces to be reckoned with or strong you immediatly single them out, put them on a stand and by doing so you are (probably unwantingly) calling all other women what exactly? Weak? Mediocre? Less?
One of the best commercials I saw over the past years is the Serena Williams one by Nike. The dream crazier one. I've copy-pasted the words below, you can google the video itself. The message is a powerful one because it exposes exactly what women like me face. We're scrutinized for being bold, loud, dramatic, uncomfortable, uncompromising and wanting to win. The moment you stick your head out, the moment you want to be better, do better, achieve more you're facing a long journey in solitude learning to fit in but never quite make it work, learning to feed thoughts but never own them because succes should be a team thing, learning to slow-down because the rest can't keep up and you'll learn to give up simply because there are no other women to mentor you into an inspirational leader. There hardly are any so how can you learn from the best when the best are a handful and those truely are way too busy to share the trade. Being a woman wanting to be the best, wanting to succeed in whatever it is you do, is still something you can't say outloud and not be called anything for it whereas men hardly face this.
So today as we venture out on our runs, walks, swims, bikerides or tri's let us think of an inspirational woman, one you wish to jobshadow for just a day to see how she got to be where she is now and when you've come up with that woman be bold and e-mail her. Tell her who you are and why you want to jobshadow her for a day, tell her why she inspires you and tell her what it is you hope to learn from her. If you succeed on landing that jobshadow than share your story with us and hopefully you will be that spark for someone else. I will leave you with the inspiring words of the -dream crazier - commercial by Nike and the sheer wish that we evolve as human beings because honestly? It is an outrage that we still need international women day today.
Be the spark that ignites a fire
Until we read again, as always
Love Marlies
DREAM CRAZIER
If we show emotion, we're called dramatic. If we want to play against men, we're nuts. And if we dream of equal opportunity, we're delusional. When we stand for something, we're unhinged. When we're too good, there's something wrong with us. And if we get angry, we're hysterical, irrational, or just being crazy.
But a woman running a marathon was crazy. A woman boxing was crazy. A woman dunking, crazy. Coaching an NBA team, crazy. A woman competing in a hijab; changing her sport; landing a double-cork 1080; or winning 23 grand slams, having a baby, and then coming back for more, crazy, crazy, crazy, and crazy.
So if they want to call you crazy, fine. Show them what crazy can do.
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