International Women’s Day
On International Women’s Day, I want to recognise the feminine energy and how essential that is to our world; I mean, for starters, without women our species wouldn’t exist! I was raised by a strong woman, alongside 2 sisters and in turn fell for a strong woman. I don’t mean strong in the physical sense (though that is present too!) but in their emotional strength.
I have found, in my life, that men are rarely able to let go of their ego and, therefore, their responses to many situations are not truthful. Women are much better at this and are more in touch with the emotional topics that take up most of our modern lives. The majority of women I have met seem to weigh in on conversation on the side that is less harmful and aggressive, making them easier humans to be close to. The life long discussion on equality has always baffled me. I personally don’t know of any women that I would think of as ‘less than a man’…. However, there are a lot of men that are absolutely less than women!
As a society we need to place a value on that type of strength, the emotional integrity, the acts of service, the truthful compassion and compromise. Life is not always about stronger, bigger, aggression and dominance. There is an inherent value to fostering relations positively, to emotional resilience and finding balance be that in the home or the business world. There probably is no equality, when I think of it this way; women are way more important than men to me.
The women closest to me have helped form my personality and my decisions in life and were a ‘go to’ when I needed advice. I would, however, like to focus on one particular woman and take the opportunity to give her the spotlight – my wife, Carmen.
We have been married 32 years and have raised our 3 children together. Carmen was an amazing English professor at UFV and, though now retired from university teaching, currently helps new Canadians learn English at our local Chilliwack Learning society. I love that she is the life of the party and up for a good time. She is gracious, youthful, level headed and absolutely gorgeous. Carmen has supported me in everything I have done and has never said ‘no’ to anything, this has given me the grounding to have boundless ideas and creativity and helped me achieve my successes; she inspires and motivates me!
Carmen loves hiking, travel and good food and I want to make her happy. I take her goals or visions of her dreams and I then use those to form my next moves in life. For example, if she says, “I want to go and hike ….”. Then I will budget that trip, figure out the time frame and If I can’t go I will call her sister or my sister and surprise her with the opportunity.
Over the years we have made many trips happen like this. This takes planning, budgeting and a willingness to provide acts of service to each other. We balance each other and that makes for a strong foundation for our life together, our family and our businesses.
So on International Women’s Day 2024, I want to thank my wife and the women in my life for their strength. I see it, I value it, I rely on it and I want the world to recognise it for what it is – your feminine energy; without it, this world of ours would cease to exist.
