So tell me, what is your vision? If your vision is all about you, with all due respect, you may be short-changing yourself. As a woman, your vision should be ‘more’, bigger than you. Your vision should embrace your family. Yes, you must have what Oby Ezekwesili calls a ‘Family Vision’ When you have a family vision, it means you have fully embraced ALL your realities. Realities? Yes, thanks to this truly inspiring woman, I had an ‘aha’ moment as she clearly outlined the 5 realities of a woman. If you know me, you will see how come these realities resonated with me and I knew I had to share! Read on:

You are first and foremost a PERSON and uniquely so. Not man, not woman. PERSON. A person with equal human rights and abilities as any other person (male or female) out there. You should refuse to allow anyone put a limit or cap on what you can or cannot do in this world. So your vision must fulfil YOU as a person.

You are a DAUGHTER who must not forget that she did not drop from the skies. Remember your parents. Always. Take it from me, you WANT to do this because when they are gone, your mind will be consumed with this one thought: Did I do enough? Could I have shown more love? And no matter how much you actually did, you will still question yourself. So today, go tweak your vision so it fulfills who you are as a daughter.

You are a SISTER and even if you are an only child, not only do you have cousins, nieces, nephews, you have non-blood siblings by faith or by marriage. Plus you know in our culture, we always have many people who call us 'sista mi'. How does your vision, as it stands today take into account your siblings?

You are a WIFE (or will be) and even if you are not, will not, chose not to be, you are still created to help, love and nurture other people. Just like your PapaGod. So is there anything in your vision that shows that that you are conscious of this? I wish you been there to hear Dr. Ezekwesili talk about how much she loved being a wife. It gave me goosebumps. You could hear the sincerity in her voice. THIS woman whose resume made us all gasp in wonder said that in spite of all that, what she enjoys the most is being a wife. She loves it. Her vision to be at the top of her game in her chosen field did not stop her from making sure she fulfilled her role as a wife.

And finally you are a MOTHER. Yes, as long as you have a womb, you are a mother. You must bring forth children, ideas, inventions, wisdom. Does your vision currently embrace your children? As you purpose to reach out to and provide care and love to orphans, how are you reaching out to your own child/children? Dr. Ezekwesili shared about how someone met her son and could not help coming to ask her how she managed to bring up a son, in these days, that exhibits the same values she is known for. You would imagine that with all she has accomplished, all her many travels and work demands her kids would be rotten. They are not. Because, as best as she could, her vision embraced her role as a mom. May we not touch the world while our own 'personal' worlds rot. Tufiakwa!

I am still mulling all of this over in my heart but there is no doubt in my mind that if your vision for your life does not encompass all these your realities in some way or another, you might not really find true fulfillment at the end of your days. If there is anything that scares me is to live my life and die with the world leaving moving tributes about me while my husband, children and immediate family stand by wondering who on earth they are talking about! *cold chills*. I have gone back to my newly crafted 2014 vision and am working on it. Like I said, you don't have to agree with me but medoubts any success you find, that does not embrace your 5 realities, will be true success in the eyes of your Maker.

At least if you are a woman.

Written by Bola 'Salt' Essien-Nelson
She is an HR Professional, Blogger/Writer

Unfortunately. . . .one is ALWAYS MISSING.
Notably. . . . #1.

Most women DO NOT KNOW THEMSELVES!

Muchechechechecheche