My Advice to Little Girls with Big Dreams
Recently, I had the opportunity to be a guest speaker at a local middle school. Adding to my excitement, it was an all-girl event centered around promoting career opportunities for girls in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math). One of my true passions! The middle school years were among the toughest for me growing up. It was fueled by insecurity and self-doubt. At that time, it was only 2 years of excruciating agony. Now it’s 3! So, whenever I get a chance to speak positivity into the lives of young girls at that age I jump at the opportunity. As a mother of 3 daughters, I get a front-line view daily of the battles girls go through to maintain high self-esteem. When you add on pursuing careers in the male-dominated STEM field, the struggles are further exacerbated.
Here’s what I shared:
When I was a child, Wonder Woman was my favorite super hero. She’s a fierce warrior, smart, beautiful and tall. Grabbing a few pieces of tin foil, a head band, and an old belt, I would transform myself (and my sister) into the warrior princesses. Whether the pursuit is to become a world-renowned scientist, computer wizard, medical doctor or entrepreneur, all little girls with big dreams must remember the following:
You are brave. There will be times on your journey when you will meet failure. Often times failure catches you by surprise, but its arrival is inevitable. You must not let it leave you feeling weak. This is when you have to dig deep and push forward.
You are highly gifted. You are more than your grades and test scores. You are a summation of all that the wonderful talents you have to share with this world. If you limit your thinking to only one parameter, you rob yourself and the world from all that you have to offer.
You matter. At times you may feel invisible, but you’re not. You are valuable, and people need to hear what you have to say. Don’t leave your thoughts dormant. Give them life by speaking them into existence. Your creative thoughts may be the missing piece to the next scientific breakthrough.
[endif]You are your own superhero, because it’s inside of you. Wonder Woman was the Warrior Princess whether she was in the costume or not, because it was inside of her. Greatness is already inside of you. You just have to release it.
“Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.” – Marianne Williamson
So, my advice is to #DreamBig!
