Five Life Lessons from Five Amazing Women (and a Bonus)
Susan “Honey” Good
Until today, I don’t think I have consciously thought about how many different types of women have passed through my life. Young, vintage, funny, sad, bright, not-so-bright, rich in emotional wealth and poor in character, funny and sad, uppers and downers, visible and invisible, good hearts and real bitches.
Think about it. From the women in our families, to friends and ‘girlfriends,’ to women we work with and buy from or serve us in some capacity, by this stage in our lives, we could write books on feminine mystique.
We have many fantastic women in our lives. Some stay and some pass through, but I call all of them ‘keepers.’ These women — in some manner — enhance our lives. They leave their footprints. They have earned our stamps of approval.
After you read my musings on a few of my special ‘keepers,’ perhaps take the time to call special women in your life and tell them how appreciative and grateful you are for their friendship, their teachings, their positivity and optimism, their warmth and kindness of heart. I know your call will brighten their days.
I will share my stories of five women who have left their foot print on my life. I am telling their stories because, though they are strangers to you, their wisdom may enrich you, as it has done for me.
Now onto five awesome women. Each has a story. None knew they were mentoring me.
- “Don’t expect anything from anyone and you will never be disappointed,” my loving and kind hearted friend explained to me on a day I was having doubts.
The sentence, which I had never heard, rocked me into reality. I remember, I literally felt my body go into a state of what I can only describe as ‘luxurious tranquility.’ The phrase was harsh but her words hit me and I immediately got her matter-of-fact message.
Family and friends and others are going to disappoint you. Put everything into perspective before you have a meltdown. Weigh the situation and your expectations. Reality will kick in and you will know exactly how to handle.
- “I am sick and tired of dealing with women who bore me or upset me so I added a new word to my vocabulary… DELETE.” These words were said to me by a dear friend during a phone call.
All I could envision was the delete key on my laptop as my finger hit DELETE.
“Why, that would take less than one second,” I thought to myself. I started laughing so hard. It was one of the best mentoring lessons.
- My French girlfriend and I were walking arm and arm down a street in Paris. She was wearing a pinstripe light grey suit and carrying a pink Kelly bag and wearing pink shoes. I was dressed in grey to include my handbag and shoes.
She said to me nonchalantly as we walked: “American women always wear black shoes and a black bag with a black suit or grey shoes with a grey suit or white shoes with a white Suit. Don’t do that anymore, Suzi. Treat your shoes and handbag as colorful additions.” A great lesson in French style, dear readers.
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