I wanted to blog today about how our Potty Training is going but I’m going to wait and do that tomorrow. Today, I wanted to get something off my chest. But first a little announcement…
YEARS ago, I met Sara Haley at a fitness event in Boston. She was teaching, I took her class. The goober that I am, I introduced myself. I’m not sure why I felt the need to tell her I was a blogger but I did and she’s remembered me since! Lol. Anyway, fast forward like 8 years, she has 3 kids and is a successful trainer on the west coast and specializes in prenatal and postnatal fitness. I always look to her for modifications in both of these areas. She is a true expert.
We are going to be doing an Instagram Live tomorrow, Friday, March 9th at 11 am PST, 2 pm EST on all things prenatal fitness and a little postpartum but mainly focusing on prenatal ab workouts and what is safe to do, moves to avoid and how to avoid getting a diastasis recti, if possible! If you have a question for us to answer, shoot me a direct message on Instagram, @SarahFit and we will answer. If you miss the live chat because work and life, it will be up on Facebook later in the day to check out.
That being said, I love working with other like minded successful women. It is International Women’s day and I wanted to take a minute to really understand what it actually means to celebrate IWD.
#1. It’s important to support other women. We love to take each other down. We see each other as threats and are constantly comparing our successes. A wise trainer once told me,
There is plenty of room at the top.
This has always stayed with me and I’ve tried to think of it daily. The success of one woman does not mean the failure of yours. I’ve been on many blogger trips, and all but one have been more than happy to support one another through tagging on blog posts and pictures on social. We comment on each other’s stuff. I try to comment on all my blog friends’ sponsored Instagram posts because it’s my way of supporting them. I often don’t see them in my feed these days, thanks Instagram, but when I do, I comment.
#2. International Women’s Day is to celebrate the social economic, cultural and political achievements of women and also renew our commitment to continue working towards gender parity.
In Massachusetts alone, women make up 49.3% of the overall workforce, but represent 67.5% of the low-wage work force and currently least likely to have paid time to care for a new child or a sick family member.
As a mother, I can’t imagine not being able to take time off after having a child. I took about 2 weeks off because I work for myself but I was able to be home with Tommy and continue to work from home. I didn’t need to pay for child care. I could nurse him and care for him. Not working meant no pay check but at least I had/have Nick as a support system.
Instead of uploading a picture to social, reach out to your local legislators and ask them to support one of the many measures that directly effect the well being of women like supporting strong paid family medical leave, the right to birth control and affordable healthcare.
Admittedly, I never took much to these issues until I felt them become threatened for my fellow females and now I’ve become a raging feminist which I rarely talk about on this blog.
#3. Instead of saying you support women online, go out and do it! Shop small and local at a female owned business or visit a local gym owned by a female. In Boston alone, you can shop at Olive’s & Grace or Follain. Go take a class at one of the boutique studios around the city owned by local women like Recycle Studio, BTone, Xtend Barre or Pure Barre on Newbury. You can also grab something to eat at a female owned restaurant. In fact, I already visited Flour once today and grabbed a delicious yogurt parfait. Joanne Chang is one of the owners and one of the most inspirational local women I’ve met, always supporting her community and super kind.
Be sure to check out Flour’s new Whole Grains menu items which include the double chocolate cookie made with rye flour. It’s my favorite.
#4. If you’re going to talk and say you support other women actually do it.
It’s easy to say you support other women and tag them on social media but to actually support them is another. If a female helped you in your career, give them a shout out today and let them know! If there is someone that inspires you that is up and coming, tell them too!
(edited 3/8 9 pm) If you read this blog post earlier, you know that this used to be a longer paragraph sharing my feelings about feeling hurt by a friend in the business. I hate confrontation and instead of reaching out to this person directly, I blogged about it. Nick told me to call them last weekend and I didn’t because I honestly get really anxious thinking about confrontation. Choosing to air my grievances on International Women’s Day probably wasn’t the best choice and I acknowledged that I probably would delete this blog post by the end of the day and here I am editing it at 9 pm after having a phone call with my friend. While I may have been hurt, my actions here on the blog hurt her and that wasn’t my intention. Here I am talking about supporting women on IWD and directly contradicting my own advice. Pregnancy hormones are no joke and while not an excuse, I admittedly am much more sensitive and spontaneous these days.
I think my lesson today that I learned is not to be afraid, to be honest and open with how you feel but avoid passive aggressive actions, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone. Women often are afraid, especially in the work place, to be confrontational. If you don’t speak up, nothing is going to change and you will continue to feel the same way only bringing more bad vibes upon yourself. May it be a male or female boss or a coworker, speak up.
If the way you’re addressed upsets you, tell them. I had someone message me on Instagram that she felt frustrated that male doctors were addressed as Doctor but she, a fellow doctor herself, was addressed by her first name. If you feel like a male counterpart is getting preference over clients or classes, reach out to your boss to see what you can do to improve or add more classes/clients to your schedule.
We must continue to work together as women to advance our successes.
Lastly, everyone is fighting their own battle. I shared a little one of mine above. Being International Women’s Day, don’t assume that every successful female you see online has everything figured out and has a perfect life. Social media is a highlight reel and you should never forget that!
Don’t forget to tune into tomorrow’s live chat.
