Have you ever paused and asked yourself a more honest question, not “what is holding me back?” but “what am I avoiding?”
This is because most women in this community are not lacking ability.
They are not lacking intelligence.
Anxiety, chronic stress and burnout are no longer fringe experiences for women in corporate and business spaces. They are becoming structural realities.
UK data from the Health and Safety Executive shows work-related stress, depression and anxiety account for over half of all working days lost, with women consistently reporting higher emotional exhaustion than men.
In the United States, the American Psychological Association has repeatedly found that women of colour report higher stress levels linked to workplace bias, caregiving pressure and financial insecurity.
Scholars have been particularly clear about what is happening beneath the surface. Dr. Thema Bryant, former President of the American Psychological Association, frames burnout among Black women not as weakness, but as the cost of “over-functioning in under-supportive systems.”
Before the vision boards are pinned up.
Before the affirmations are repeated.
We often speak of success as if it’s reserved for the chosen few. The brave. The lucky. The unbreakable.
But more often than not, the gap between those who succeed and those who don’t isn’t talent. It isn’t timing. It’s belief.
The truth is, we don’t go after our career goals, our personal callings or our business dreams not because we aren’t capable but because somewhere along the way, we were taught not to believe. Taught to seek safety over purpose. Taught to avoid failure like it’s a death sentence, rather than what it truly is, data.
Think about it. We are wired by culture to fear loss more than we crave gain. We are told to shrink our ambitions to fit into boxes built by other people’s expectations. And so, when the…
Proud Sista!
Proud Sista!
Proud Sista!
Proud Sista!
Proud Sista!
