What women want is a discussion that will never grow old. Why-I remember having a good laugh when that book titled "A Man's Guide to Understanding Women" by Prof. Teri Li came out. A book with 200 blank pages. Talk about a sense of humor.
Truth is, it is not easy to understand what a person wants.
We all have aspirations in life. We spend time daydreaming about what the future holds, where we want to be, who we want to be. We can be guilty of thinking that perhaps we are the only ones who have these thoughts. But what I've learned is, we all have similar daydreams at some point in our lives.
As women, we are stronger when we have our goals and the right mindset to work through to get to where we want to be in life-whether that is staying home to take care of our family or climbing to the very top of our careers.
I've had the privilege of discussing this "what women want" topic with many, many women during the course of my life. In fact, it is one of the most wonderful conversation starters. I've been amazed at some of the answers and I've also felt a little sad that the aspirations of some of these women are just that. A fantasy. Very few have had the guts to follow through, blaming their circumstances. The ones who did follow through succeeded in going after what they wanted, in spite of the challenges thrown in their way. I could write a post about each of these women.
But by and large, I was surprised that the most common goals and aspirations I came across were these:
I want to become a mother
Of course, many women think about this at some point. I know I have. It's not the case of having that need to become a mother, but more that we just consider it. In my case, it was vis-à-vis having kids. As the years go by, we become conscious of the clock ticking away.
I know some of the women I know had a desperate need to be a mother. That desire - call it the maternal instinct - kicks in and is triggered when a baby is close by. Some women can be on the fence about having kids. Not feeling that natural desire but yet still wondering whether life as a mother is for them one day. Some of my friends have taken the conscious decision not to have kids and that's perfectly fine. After all, it is a choice. Some have gone to many lengths to become parents because they believed that they would feel fulfilled when they had a baby.
Did you ever contemplate this? Did you consciously decide whether you wanted to be a mom?
I want a successful career
Not everyone wants a career, but many women consider it. A successful career is what a lot of women work towards. They feel proud to head out to work each and every day. It's hard to find that one job that you feel passionate about but once you do, naturally you hold on to it.
Perhaps you need to enhance your skills in certain areas to get you where you want to be. Whether that is being skilled in adobe connect and looking at adobe connect pricing to help you, or whether it is about gaining specific qualifications so you can keep climbing the ladder-everyone has an end-goal in mind and we try to work towards it.
I know many inspiring women in business who decide that they want to focus on a career and manage to balance their work and personal life pretty well. And there are those who decide they want a career for a specific period of time and then switch to become homemakers and focus on family. What about you?
Do all women want to travel? Probably not. While some women are indifferent to travel and are okay with it when it is required, some have a strong desire to see the world, see new places, and experience new things.
Which category do you fall into? I know right now travel is restricted because of the pandemic, but otherwise, if you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
I have friends who really love to travel - solo and with family and they are quite happy about carrying their babies wherever they go and I think that's amazing. I love to travel and never miss a chance to pack and take off.
I want to settle down, get married
Marriage, or at least settling down is what some women want. Yes, many women aspire to "settle down" and have a family. Growing up, I've seen quite a few of my cousins happily marrying off their dolls and play at pretend weddings. I don't ever remember enjoying that. Although I went along, I got bored quickly. I definitely wanted more adventure in life.
What about you? Have you wanted to get married, settle down? Hoped to meet that one person?
While some women happily wear their age as a badge of honor, some are always conscious of their appearance, their bodies. To that end, they spend time, effort, and money fighting the signs of aging. Some even go the extra length with body enhancements, believing it will raise their confidence levels and make them feel better about themselves.
What about you? Have you ever been conscious about how you look, who you are?
What women want
What do women really want, though? I'd say that what women want, really, is to feel safe in this world. to be treated as equals, with prejudice, to be able to choose how they want to live their lives without being judged, to be free from social biases, to be respected.
Do you agree?
And finally, as my grandmother and mom always loved to say:
"One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you want to go."- Sheila Murray Bethel
