Getting ready to get her hair done by one of the best hairdressers in town, she sunk into that chair as her body exuded a message of being torn up inside and defeated by life. She started to reflect on her entire life and the woman she had become and her face painted a picture of being disappointed and beat down. Another woman walked through the door and as she made her way to one of those chairs, Lisa couldn ' t help but notice the charisma she had and how she walked that floor with such grace and confidence.
She had a certain presence to her, one would think she held a position in the parliament. Lisa wondered why it hurt so much to be who she was and if ever there was a chance to be somebody else. Truth is, she had read every book in the store on how to be a better woman but none of them seemed to apply in her seemingly miserable life. She envied every other woman ' s life except her own. What she didn ' t realize was that she was no different from all the other women in that room.
These women came from different walks of life and though it appeared they had it easier than she did, the truth of the matter is, they also took part of the cup of the struggle. The struggle to earn recognition, appreciation, and respect. The struggle to be called by their names and not just a ' Mrs ' title. As they started to get comfortable with each other, these women began to share their stories and unfold the challenges they ' ve had to go through in order to be where they were. How comparison had stolen so much from her life. Indeed the thief of all happiness. All these women were studded with insecurities concerning everything about themselves. If it wasn ' t this, it was that.
They all wished to be somebody else though they encouraged and appeased each other ' s pride and ego, but how can you accept a shirt when offered by a naked person. Self love is, and always has been an ingredient to contentment. How did all those great women do it. They never waited to be empowered, they brought about empowerment on their own. Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, Judy Garland, Rosalind Russell.
These were women to be reckoned with. The challenge faced with women today is the dire need for acceptance from other women. They break each other instead of empowering each other, they compete with each other instead of assisting each other. The very salon that ' s supposed to make them feel loved and appreciated, has become a gossip club in which they turn and talk about the other woman as soon as she leaves.
How then do they expect to receive respect from outside when they can ' t render it within. After all, a woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. Growing up, Lisa had struggled with self acceptance in so many spheres of life. Not only did she have to work to earn recognition in the corporate world, she felt as though she was recognized more at work than in her own family. Her sphere of influence had it that women were meant to submit and not speak out unless they were spoken to.
Primitive minded most of them were, medieval even. Putting a girl child through school was absurd, tetiary education was unheard of so she had to be grateful that she even knew how to read and write, after all she even managed to get through secondary school. In her mind all these other women didn ' t know the meaning of the word struggle because as it was, she had to work to earn a living and pay for her university tuition.
The entire time she sat there quietly as they narrated their own " sad stories " of how their husbands wouldn ' t give them money for their own " needs " as though marriage was a profession. Marriage was the last thing on her mind. She wanted to be known for what she had accomplished and not for what her future husband had.