November 14 – International Girls Day

nPostednon November 14, 2016

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nGetnready for #YouCan!

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nTodaynis a day to encourage girls that they can dream big, achieve, and benwho they want to be. It’s a day to talk about messages in the medianand among peer groups about how girls “should” dress and talk andnact…with an emphasis on deconstructing all the “should”s andnbuilding up individual styles and self-knowledge.

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nHillarynClinton’s recent concession speech, when she narrowly won thenpopular vote for President of the United States, but lost thenelectoral vote, emphasized the message “You can” to women andnespecially to girls:
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n“Tonall the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you arenvaluable, and powerful, and deserving of every chance and opportunitynin the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.”

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nTherenare resources to be had at the Confidence Coalition’s website,nincluding the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

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Remember,nyou can find your interests and talents by trying a variety ofnactivities. When you find an activity you really like, develop it bynputting time and effort into that activity.

nSome people feel betternwhen they throw themselves into pretty much just one pursuit (likenacting in the community theater or playing basketball), but othersnprefer to dabble in lots of activities (say, one sport plus one artnform plus one musical instrument). n

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Onenof my daughters drew and painted a lot, and took art classes, and shenalso did track and field activities several times a week – but shenfocused a bit more of her time on learning a variety of dance styles.nIt was dancing that eventually caught her up as other interestsnmostly fell by the wayside, and she took dance classes six days anweek, for multiple hours a day, plus competed with two dance teams.nShe moved from being pretty much a dabbler to being a person with anlaser focus on one passion.

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nTonboost your self-confidence, remember these important steps:

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nLowern the volume of your inner critic. Be nice to yourself! Rewrite youn negative thoughts about yourself into more positive and helpfuln feedback.
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nHaven “I want to do my best” as a goal, rather than having winning,n getting a perfect score, or other performance-based goals. Remembern to give yourself applause for genuine effort.
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