Day 29 - Stay calm, prioritize, bounce back!

"As Indian women, we are always balancing work, life, home, etc. It's important to know that while juggling rubber balls and glass balls, the former may bounce back when you miss, but the glass balls will crack if you let them fall. So prioritize, prioritize, prioritize." Nita Ambani

A topic close to my heart - who is better at multitasking - men or women. A debatable topic everywhere around the world but scientific research and studies favor women. It is said that women are better at multitasking while men are better performing a single task in hand. So while men may be better at map reading, women have superior memory and social cognition skills that make them more equipped for multitasking. However, whatever studies may say, the fact remains that very few women in India, actually reach the top and the reasons are all very familiar - childcare, gender bias at work, unfair share of domestic chores, security, etc...only 5% reach to the top as compared to the global average of 20% as per the latest report by ForbesIndia.

It is always the woman who has to face all the conflict when it comes to choosing between a career and her family. When a woman is at home she thinks she should contribute financially and when she is at work she thinks she should be home with her children. Indra Nooyi the CEO of PepsiCo says: "There is no denying the guilt because most women always have a prefix or suffix. When someone pays us a compliment for good work, we don't take credit so easily because the guilt that we have achieved this by sacrificing something else is always lingering. Today, my 20-year-old son is my mentor. He tells me not to feel guilty for anything. I am saying, don't feel guilty. Go ahead and take that break from work/career. Do what is right. Prioritize and integrate."

However, not many are lucky; blame it on our social conditioning or mindset, but the onus of child care and family care, rests on the shoulder of a woman - whether working or not working. I find many women around me holding a bunch of degrees but who have been unable to make it back to work. Some are unwilling to come out of their comfort zones while some are unable to do so due to many reasons apart from cultural norms, peer pressure, lack of family support, etc. At the same time we have many examples of women, who have taken a break from their career for the sake of their families but when they bounced back on their career lane they bounced high and they made it to the top. I feel every woman must work not just to gain financial independence but for your own self, for your self-esteem, for your own worth. 

No matter how much life pushes you down, you can always bounce back. So my message to all the women out there who have worked once but left their jobs due to whatever reason and to those who want to make it back - it's never too late. Keep trying.

Keep life simple, focus on one thing at a time. We can do it.
Stay calm, prioritize, bounce back!