And When Pride Or Strength Keeps You Unsupported

Strong will, independence and self-assurance are qualities we admire in society and our fellow women, but can these qualities work against us?  I'm starting to believe so. On one side, these qualities are compelling to move us forward and fuel our courage and inner strength. The flipside is our pride, or shield of protection that we surround ourselves which means that we dig deep into resilience, independence and personal power, when sometimes what we need to is to reach out and ask for help, connect or share our challenges. 

Why has this come up or why do I believe this you might ask? Through the reflection of the women I meet and are around me. I'll go back to this in a minute. We met some business owners recently, and we had a great mentoring session, shared lots of knowledge and connection. The feedback we received went something like this, "I feel so relieved", "I'm not going crazy", "I thought that I was doing it wrong", "What do you think of this idea?", "How should I approach this?" I began to notice that so many women are going it alone in their business. They are not sure about their next move, or potentially what they have tried might not be getting the result they're after and of course if you look to social media the reflection can be distorted, we begin comparing and then down the rabbit hole we go of feeling like a failure or we're not doing it right.

I believe that when we are open to learning life lessons the world you create reflects what you most need to learn. When I thought about how I was noticing this pattern so often with women, primarily when they engage with our community, I realised that I have also isolated myself at times in my business journey.  Fearful that I might get found out that I'm not doing it right, or while people think it looks effortless I'm working around the clock, and the biggest one of all, reaching out and asking or help - I so rarely do this. I recognise the conditioning, past hurt or decisions I took that believed that was a weakness. I am so admiring of women who can put their hand up and ask for help, and I'm learning to do the same.

The lesson for me is following my business dream doesn't have to be a solo or isolating journey. This is why I created Women with Altitude. A community is critical to help support and share the load, the good times, the difficult times and a brains trust for when you feel unsure of what might be next or what to do in a given situation.

Recently, a business advisor was on her way to help counsel and coach a husband and wife business team who were having a big struggle and she said this: "You know Andrea I'm going to a see couple with some business issues that, if they had been part of a community would have been sorted out way earlier."