The Smartest Woman I Know

To me, being smart means realising what’s important in life and making decisions around that. I think a smart woman knows how and when to be kind or tough, ambitious or humble, emotional or rational, stubborn or flexible. If there’s a woman who knows how to be smart, that’s my mum! :) My mum inspires me every day to be a smarter woman. I’ve had the pleasure to have her by my side all of these years, so now I’ll tell you a little bit more about my lovely mum…

My mum is smart because she did it on her own. My parents split up when I was very little and my mum raised 3 children all by herself. If I may say so, we’ve all turned out pretty well, so well done mum! Of course she had help from our enormous and very hands-on extended family, but being a single mother must have been incredibly tough, scary and a massive challenge for her.

My mum is smart because she is independent. When my parents split up, my mum didn’t really have an established life for herself and us, but somehow she turned it around and reinvented herself to be a very successful and independent woman, who’s able to provide for her children and give us the most comfortable life we could possible ask for. Being independent comes at a price and my mum has had to sacrifice precious time at home with her family for long hours at work most of her life. But she’s always known what’s important and he priority has always been to provide for us and make us happy. I believe this was only made possible through her smart choices and perseverance.

My mum is smart because she is honest. Without a shadow of a doubt, she is the most honest person I know! Maybe it was something she learned from her parents, maybe it was through some hurtful life experiences, but whatever it was, honesty was a huge deal in our house. Growing up it was so important for us to have her as a role model and to aspire to be like her. She would take every opportunity she could get to teach us about the importance of being honest in life, and I have carried on spreading that message in my life wherever I go.

My mum is smart because she is wise. I find myself starting a lot of sentences with “My mum used to say…” which shows me how much wisdom she had to share with us. I don’t remember actively learning from my mum’s wise words, but they have certainly stuck with me, even if unconsciously. One of my favourites things that mum used to say is “time is a matter of priority”; it was such a huge eye-opener for us whenever we said to her we didn’t have ‘time’ for something, and she would come back and say ‘if you make it a priority in your life, you’ll have time for it’. I’m sure I’ve mentioned a fair few of these ‘my mum used to say…’ here on the blog by now! :)

There are many more reasons as to why my mum fits my definition of a smart woman and these are only a few of them. I feel very lucky to have such a strong, kind-hearted and loving mum who inspires me every day to be a smarter version of myself!

I would love to know more about the #SmartWomen in your life and how they inspire you to ‘live smarter’ and make better choices in life.

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Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Clinique via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Clinique.