I wanted to write a blog post about International Women’s Day and began thinking about the women that have inspired me in my life. When I thought about it, I realised there have been many women who have been teachers for short bursts, but never for an extended period. And that’s when I realised it was my mother who inspires me the most.
I would like to dedicate this post to my mother and all the women and mothers out there for International Women’s Day and Mother’s Day.
To all those wonderful women who carry out their tasks day to day, whether in the corporate world, as a homemaker, whether loudly, whether silently, whether ambitiously or while nurturing others, you are wonderful in your world.
And to the amazing men supporting those fantastic women to help raise a future generation together or singularly, whether girl or boy, thank you for guiding that generation to continue to support women.
And to my inspiration, the only woman to date who inspires me (other than Oprah!), someone at home: my mother.
I grew up watching mum in a full-time customer service role in corporate banking, then communications, which she rushed home from to run a family. She always picked up the kids, cooked a full healthy meal every night, and has spent her life taking care of an extended family and mother-in-law from a young age (she was married when she was 19). She built a life together with my papa and, at any given crisis, has been the strong one who always builds people back up.
Role models and inspirations are all around us, but when you look at yourself and thank the universe for everything you’ve got through, only a small inner circle get you through it and help you to become the person that you are.
She doesn’t wear a high powered suit, she wears a saree every day – to work, at home, out and about. She doesn’t talk like she’s been groomed to be an inspiration, it comes from seeing some tough times, and she takes no nonsense. She always says ‘don’t complain about life; you will always have more than someone else, accept it, if you want to change that circumstance, get up and get working on it.’ She stands for integrity, honesty and good old-fashioned hard work.
My inspiration is my mother.
I hope this post helps all those reading it to know that you don’t have to be on the world speaker platform to be an inspiration, you can just be you. Look around closely, you may have someone you didn’t realise play this role, or you may just have been raised by one.
Let’s celebrate all other women too, mothers or not, and the men who you help to support those women in their endeavours.
To bring it to life, here’s my mum alongside some very close friends/family and some of my brides in a campaign I did a couple of years back, plus some of my childhood memories.
Happy International Women’s Day and Happy Mother’s Day!
Kisses,
KSAVI
xxx