A brilliant read! It made me think about certain scenarios that I have experienced lately and about how I want to be observed by my daughters. I sometimes think I'm not very confident and I'm not always, but some of the things you have written about, reminded me that I am proud of some of the choices I have made recently and some of the difficult conversations I have had recently. Women speaking up about the challenges/differences we face compared to men, definitely helps! I'd love to hear more men talking about those differences too... but that's a whole other thing!
YES!! Exactly this! It’s soooo important and even the fact that maybe we’re not confident and do the hard thing anyway is such an important lesson. So I think it’s having open conversations, especially with our children, to talk about how we feel and why we make choices.
I really really enjoyed this piece, Imogen! I think it’s a fascinating topic and I was thinking about it last week. I was posting something on Instagram about my Substack and saying I was proud of myself. I made a carousel with snippets of my writing. I was going to include some comments from people on here that were so unbelievably lovely, and celebrate them. Then I panicked because what if I looked egotistical? Up myself? Like I was bragging?
I ended up including them specifically because I’ve noticed being way too reserved about my little wins in life. Way too afraid of being braggy.
I think a lot of women have just learnt to shy away from praising themselves. To pootle along but not shout about how great they are. I think we often get more criticism if we do openly say we did well at something. Which is wild.
I’d like to change that. I’d like to be open about achievements. I also think in me being more open with it, I’ll be more of a cheerleader for others? Because I also think if we can’t celebrate ourselves, that’s why we sometimes aren’t that great at empowering others. I don’t know. Maybe that’s just me!
So thank you for sharing this, because I think it inspired other women!
Oh I LOVE this! Thank you so much for sharing Imogen. I really appreciate your thoughts and insight.
I totally agree I definitely find myself playing down wins, not sharing them or feeling slightly awkward when I do. I’ve started to question this and push through it, but also to talk about it.
I share the difficult bits and I think it’s good to share both highs and lows. I often find talking around it helps me but also resonates with others.
I also agree that cheerleading others helps. I love celebrating people and lifting others up and feel genuine excitement for them. Someone reminded me that actually by sharing my own wins I’m allowing other people to feel some of that joy too, which is such a good point!
I do think a lot of this comes from being a woman and how society historically tries to keep us small. So I think challenging that narrative is important. And especially noticing if we feel something negative about another woman sharing their wins.
It’s not something that will shift quickly or easily but I think noticing and talking about it is really important, so thank you for joining in the conversation! X
A brilliant read! It made me think about certain scenarios that I have experienced lately and about how I want to be observed by my daughters. I sometimes think I'm not very confident and I'm not always, but some of the things you have written about, reminded me that I am proud of some of the choices I have made recently and some of the difficult conversations I have had recently. Women speaking up about the challenges/differences we face compared to men, definitely helps! I'd love to hear more men talking about those differences too... but that's a whole other thing!
YES!! Exactly this! It’s soooo important and even the fact that maybe we’re not confident and do the hard thing anyway is such an important lesson. So I think it’s having open conversations, especially with our children, to talk about how we feel and why we make choices.
Thank you so much for sharing lovely x
I really really enjoyed this piece, Imogen! I think it’s a fascinating topic and I was thinking about it last week. I was posting something on Instagram about my Substack and saying I was proud of myself. I made a carousel with snippets of my writing. I was going to include some comments from people on here that were so unbelievably lovely, and celebrate them. Then I panicked because what if I looked egotistical? Up myself? Like I was bragging?
I ended up including them specifically because I’ve noticed being way too reserved about my little wins in life. Way too afraid of being braggy.
I think a lot of women have just learnt to shy away from praising themselves. To pootle along but not shout about how great they are. I think we often get more criticism if we do openly say we did well at something. Which is wild.
I’d like to change that. I’d like to be open about achievements. I also think in me being more open with it, I’ll be more of a cheerleader for others? Because I also think if we can’t celebrate ourselves, that’s why we sometimes aren’t that great at empowering others. I don’t know. Maybe that’s just me!
So thank you for sharing this, because I think it inspired other women!
Hope you enjoyed my ramble 😂😂
Oh I LOVE this! Thank you so much for sharing Imogen. I really appreciate your thoughts and insight.
I totally agree I definitely find myself playing down wins, not sharing them or feeling slightly awkward when I do. I’ve started to question this and push through it, but also to talk about it.
I share the difficult bits and I think it’s good to share both highs and lows. I often find talking around it helps me but also resonates with others.
I also agree that cheerleading others helps. I love celebrating people and lifting others up and feel genuine excitement for them. Someone reminded me that actually by sharing my own wins I’m allowing other people to feel some of that joy too, which is such a good point!
I do think a lot of this comes from being a woman and how society historically tries to keep us small. So I think challenging that narrative is important. And especially noticing if we feel something negative about another woman sharing their wins.
It’s not something that will shift quickly or easily but I think noticing and talking about it is really important, so thank you for joining in the conversation! X