Ladies, let's support each other and own our successes

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

I’ve been reading Glennon Doyle’s new book, "Untamed," for a few weeks, and frequently sharing passages and notes with girlfriends of mine.

This Sunday I came across a page that screamed “MEGAN!” at me so loudly that I wrote her name in the margins. I texted her immediately. Lately, as we’ve grown closer as friends, partners in business, and in motherhood, we’ve figured out a lot about each other. I have learned that my good friend Megan Farrell, who you’ve all gotten to know while reading this column over the past months, struggles with owning her success.

Unfortunately, she’s not unique in this. Think about it. As women, we’ve been trained to shy away from boasting, to brush off compliments, for fear of coming across as brash, rude, snarky, cocky, whatever. And, as a result, we’ve been trained to wrinkle our noses at women who ARE successful. The word that Glennon Doyle used in her book is "entitled." When we encounter a woman in her element, in her place at the helm in whatever it is that she does really well, we look at her and think “Ugh, look at her. She’s so entitled.”

Why? When I texted Megan the picture of the page in the book, I made a vow to myself right then to work harder at not doing this. I decided that I’m going to CONSTANTLY CELEBRATE the women in my life. I’m going to encourage them to continue to be bosses, to continue to dive deeper into success; to outproduce, outperform and outshine in their roles.

I’m lucky to be surrounded by amazing women. They are successful in their own realms, they have strengths that are different from mine, and they balance me out in ways I never knew I needed. In my life right now, I am choosing to focus on joy and gratitude. I have so much to be thankful for, grateful for, and the women in my life are so much of that.

I will say this to all you: If you don’t have girlfriends who will incessantly build you up, I encourage you to really open up to the potential. Find it. Seek it out.

If you do have this, ladies, TELL THEM. Be ridiculous about it. Go over the top. Tell them you love them until they laugh and tell you to stop. Call them just because. Love them abundantly and nourish their littles like they’re your own.

Women supporting women, women loving women, is something we need. Let’s work harder, ladies.