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| International Women's Day hosted by WTM Buea |
Over my years of being a female Engineering student, I have come to realize one thing and That is Girl's in Tech never feel empowered. We always have these limiting believes I won't want to mention(you girls know what I mean). It's not our fault that we even have these limiting believes. Some of this believes are due to societal perception and Opinion of how ladies are supposed to behave, their Career choices and their ambitions in general. When you finally break all these societal norms and choose to take a career path in engineering, a field which is seen to be worthy of men, you need to be extra ready for all the attention it will bring (most of which are negative). At one point I found my self wondering why I chose an engineering career because I was overwhelmed by the whole thing. If you are having these same thoughts going through your mind, it's okay. I understand what you are going through. I realised recently that girls in tech battle more with mental struggles than physical once(The greatest battles are fought from within) and as long as your mindset has not been tailored to think in the way it should, you cannot make physical progress in your career. This is what empowerment is all about. I want to talk about empowerment in two aspects: Mental Empowerment and Physical Empowerment.
1. Mental Empowerment
Mental empowerment can be defined as a means by which you can structure your thinking to be aligned with your vision or your goal(Consciously developing your mind for exploits). David Ibiyeomie said in one of his devotionals titled Mental Empowerment that "It is your mental empowerment that determines your earthly placement. What you will be on earth is a function of your mind. When your mind is loaded, you cannot be useless on earth." Mental empowerment simply changes our perception of things, it changes the way we react to situations and it changes what we think of ourselves. Do you see yourself as a failure?, Has the world told you you will not be a better wife because you chosed a career path in engineering, Do you feel threatened because you are surrounded by guys who don't take your opinions seriously simply because of your gender? Don't be troubled. By the end of this article you are not going to be bothered by all these negative energies. There are many ways you can be empowered mentally but I would want to specify on three things:
a. Define Your Why
Some of us found ourselves in engineering by chance. Some of us have fallen in love with the field overtime. We have found our drive, what stirs our passion for this career. If you are still wondering why you are not motivated and why you are not passionate about what you do, and why people's expectations and opinions of you matter so much, spoiler alert "You haven't defined your why". Defining your why is all about asking yourself questions like why I'm I actually in tech?, is there something I can add to this field?, if yes, then what can I add?, How would this benefit me and the world at large. If you find answers to these questions then you are already empowering your self Mentally. Doing this may sound crazy at first but trust me if you have this clearly defined, no circumstance will still that passion away from you. By so doing you will always find ways to achieve anything in this field no matter who is in support of you or not.
b. Have Daily Confessions
I remember not long ago I was going through a transition period in my life, things were going too fast and I was worried and scared. I guess some if not all of us are faced with these same fears when we are pushed to the front line . Every one around me kept encouraging me and telling me I was up-to the task and how much they believe in me. Even though they were saying all things, I still felt empty inside, I could not see what they saw in me and so I didn't believe what they said. I decided to talk to my self. I went home, picked up my phone and decided to take a video of myself talking to me. In this very weired but amazing video of me, I told myself basically the same words I had heard from people for example: "You are strong, you are full of potential, you are smart, This is a growing phase for you etc. " Hearing myself say theses same words actually made more sense than it did when they said it to me . I believed them cuz I heard myself say them. I didn't know I was empowering my self mentally at the time but What I did back then empowered me mentally so much so that I know felt more confident in myself. Having daily confessions is very necessary. If you have never confessed positive things to yourself or to your career, I encourage you to start confessing out your dreams and your desires.You become what you confess.
c. Listen To Motivational Talks
This is my favourite point. I cannot over emphasise on this third point. Many at times we are surrounded by people who have made it big in life and people who are aspiring to make it big sometime in the future. These are the kind of people we should be identified with. People who motivate you to be the best version of yourself. People who add value to our lives, people who put you back on track when you feel derailed or misled. People who put the fire back in you. These are the people you should listen to. You can subscribe to motivational channels on YouTube. There are many of them. Don't go listening to everyone but be specific in your choices, listen to people you can dance to their rhythm, people who speak to you personally, people who mimic the personality traits you want to have. When you find such people, hold on to them and listen to what they have to say. You will be empowered mentally.
2. Physical Empowerment
Physical empowerment is equipping your self with the right set of skills that reflect your desires and your goals. Now the big question is how do I empower myself physically. How do I get these amazing skills that I admire so much?, how do I become a master in web development?, how do I get to the top of my career? All these questions are beautiful and there are just two easy steps to take that will answer them.
a. Take The First Step.
Taking the first step is the biggest step. Many of us have answers to most of the questions we ask ourselves. We even know the steps we should take in order to make meaningful progress towards attaining skills and goals but we are just too scared to begin. We must be aggressive with ourselves and overcome fear, say no to procrastination. You can never be empowered in something you have no idea about. You need to take the bold step. Take all those amazing ideas in your mind and begin to execute them one at a time. It's now or never.
Be Consistent
Consistency is the key. You can never grow in a particular area if you are not consistent in that area talk less of being empowered. Consistency is a must practice if you desire to grow in life. If you want to be consistent then you need to clearly define your goals(realistic goals), allocate a time frame needed to achieve those goals, be accountable to someone i.e. tell someone about your goals(a trusted someone who can remind you and encourage when you loose hope. ) There is a saying that goes thus "Little drops of water make a mighty ocean". Put in those tiny drops as often as you can and it will amount to something big in a long run.
I Hope that this article was helpful to you who has been lost in fear and to you who had lost his/her passion for this field. Try out these methods of empowering your self and see if it helps.
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