If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose.” – Bishop T.D. Jakes

With so much commentary surrounding International Women’s Day and all the stats that point to the inequality that still continues to plague women in 2016, a colleague of mine recently raised an interesting question – “What do women really want?”

Well it’s a question that has led to a downward spiral of confusion for many fathers, husbands, brothers and sons alike, often to the conclusion ‘Happy Wife, Happy Life’.

How might we clarify this? Is this question water tight in our own minds? Frank and intimate discussions in our Leading Women program yield very few statements in response to ‘What do I want?’. After all are we allowed to think of ourselves, our own needs, hopes and dreams? For many it feels a little self indulgent. Which is exactly what the Leading Women program is and needs to be.

We spend so much time thinking of and caring for others, and can most probably rattle off the goals of our loved ones and all the ways we’re supporting them. And for me personally there is no greater pleasure than caring for those I love most.

Life is a journey and we didn’t all leave school with a clear career goal in mind. We change, our path and circumstances change. Sliding door moments if you will. As we age and with experiences we get to know ourselves better, our strengths, passions, what energises us and what leaves us totally devoid of all energy. Is it here where are passions lie, that provides life’s purpose?

And as we walk the path to self actualisation, we are weighted down by the expectations of others, a running commentary playing like a broken record in our minds – But my parents helped support me through Uni so I really should . . . But my husband thinks I should up my hours at work . . . But how will I fit it all in? . . . And this is not all drawing us back.

Fear. There it is – the elephant in the room. So often it’s this huge beast that raises its head in our Leading Women program. And we’re laying this on ourselves! It’s the silent underminer of our success and self-actualisation. Fear – fear of failure, fear of what others think, fear of not having the time, financial fear and so on it goes.

Some are so real they can limit us. But all? No. It’s time to drown out the noise for clarity of purpose, to challenge the fear with courage, and smash through the blocks that can be broken away. After all, aren’t we worth it?

See more information on our Leading Women program.