Every day that passes I find myself less and less perfect, and this feeling, far from worrying, makes me proud and allows me to be much freer: more myself I can now walk lighter, without the weight of others, without thorns in my heart and without stones in the shoe that hinder my progress, my walk full of harmony and multiple possibilities.
All these ideas can be summarized in a very current term: personal growth. The publishing industry offers us multiple approaches, strategies and skills to take the first step: they give us a real investment in ourselves. Now, to find these hidden talents, explore them and look at the horizon with a clear mind and an enlightened heart, it’s not really easy.
“Why do I need feet if I can fly?” Frida Khalo?
In addition, one aspect that deserves to be highlighted, and which in turn the publishing market is very clear, is that the audience that most seeks such readings about growth and personal development are women, who seek to cross the boundaries of their own. contexts to grow and, in turn, transform their realities and a society where change remains very slow and where people continue to reign in most areas.
It’s not easy. We live in a world where, curiously, growth is an important challenge in any organization, each company is governed by a fundamental law: it grows or perishes, however, on a human level, this need is not so explicit. ? It means to stop being afraid to speak, to dare to challenge the established to show how capable we are. An aspect that the female sex is already developing “at a breakneck pace”.
Can we think about that?
Most of our readers are certainly familiar with Abraham Maslow’s famous pyramid of needs. This theory, raised in 1940, described the concept of self-realization as a reflection of a person who had apparently finally achieved his personal development altogether.
But what not everyone knows is that Abraham Maslow himself realized two decades after his theory had many flaws. There was something wrong. The search for self-realization is to focus all our efforts, skills and energies exclusively on ourselves, we want to be able, independent, creative, courageous and, above all, autonomous in almost every aspect.
Maslow realized that most people interpreted the top of his pyramid as the crown given to an individual who values himself and perceives himself as intelligent, strong and, in turn, disconnected from his surroundings. There seemed to be no common good, no greater purpose. His approach wasn’t right. In this way, he introduced another dimension that went beyond this self-satisfaction, this personal entropy to achieve a greater goal: what he called self-transcendence.
It is interesting to note that this need for self-transcendence is what characterizes the vast majority of women who are increasingly interested in development and personal growth, today’s woman knows perfectly what her qualities and potentials are, there is no need to exalt what she is. it already is, it seeks above all to transcend, to exceed the limits that others have imposed to come into contact with their environment and change it.
A woman doesn’t have to be perfect to do her best and succeed: she just needs to be herself. Saskia Sassen, a renowned Dutch sociologist and writer known for her work in “global cities,” explains that most of us are forced to adapt to a world that simply doesn’t work. Saskia Sassen coined the term “global city?” and is one of the main benchmarks in globalization studies and their impacts on the urban environment.
“Don’t expect anything from anyone, expectations always hurt,” William Shakespeare?
The female gender must therefore take into account an essential aspect: in the face of this long-awaited personal development or overcoming itself, we must free themselves, break with stereotypes, invisible mandates, prejudices and outdated expectations, for which many women still feel trapped.
You don’t have to be perfect to be valued as a person, there are no perfect bodies, perfect and infallible professionals, perfect mothers, perfect friends, ideal daughters or wives.
We are who we are and we want to be everything we deserve, to achieve it you have to have a goal in life, a dream, goals, passions to fight for them every day, at any time. Secondly, we must set aside the expectations of others and live up to our own expectations, which are the only ones that are really worth it.
The third, and not least, is to always be yourself, without contradictions, without false goals, without prejudices that contradict your own essence. Only then will we live in harmony, only then will we treat each other as we deserve. In this way, by giving others and the world “the best,” we can make them more dignified and respectful.
Images courtesy of Irene Sheri.