BECOMING A WOMAN OF INFLUENCE IN NIGERIA

BECOMING A WOMAN OF INFLUENCE IN NIGERIA

By Abrahan Ruth

 

 

 

 The confidence exuded by this bright young woman from one of the countries within the South African sub-region blew my mind as she explained the concept she intelligently described as from “bean to bar”. Her concept of chocolate making was really fascinating and this earned her the honour of being showcased in one of the very popular global mainstream media. Her hard work without doubt brought her into global limelight. Admittedly, women have done well in their strides to obtain relevance like their male counterparts but there is still more to be done just like a quote that says “we’ve come a long way but we still have a long way to go”.

The question at the moment is why do we have many women giving excuses that they are so limited because they are women? Why do we have women who are so afraid to become the positive influence the world is crying to have? That takes me to the question of who indeed is a woman of influence? How can women in our ever changing world become the influence that would enable many to find their voices in the place of glaring compromise?

In a simple term, influence is the ability of an individual to get other people to consciously or unconsciously emulate his or her style probably without any form of coercion. Thus, a woman of influence can be said to possess the ability to inspire others but this great feat cannot be achieved without confidence. Confidence is being sure and positive about what you believe you can do without the fear of being turned down or despised.  It is also very important to understand that influence is a noun that can be observed from two perspectives: POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE. However, in our contemporary world the negative travels faster and influences many than the positive.

Let’s look at how the world celebrates women of influence especially in the global mainstream media such as CNN, ABCNEWS, SKY, MTV, etc. What we see often is the exposure of the female mammary gland and the rotundity of her posterior. The biggest movie and music stars that command millions of following in social media platforms often times attract so much traffic to their web page when they expose sensitive body parts. The big global mainstream media hardly castigate them; in fact they affectionately call them divas, glamorous, and the most beautiful. Sadly to say, these are people that command enormous global influence. Holy Spirit led women of influence may not ring a bell in our ears because the mainstream media rarely say much about them, however, these people have really influenced so many and continue to do so.

Hence, I describe a woman of positive influence as a real woman endowed with amazing virtue. She is endowed with amazing gifts from the creator; she has the creator’s ability, full of compassion and always ready to apply her creative ability to whatever task she’s given. She’s a woman that is not giving to rampant hedonism ravaging our present world; she’s worth more than jewels. She’s special in every way. She carries the kindness that God expects of His daughters. Instead of gossip in the morning she keeps herself busy making good things, she feeds the poor because she’s not only kind to the members of her household. She’s the kind that people who work under her employment don’t wish to leave because she’s never tired of letting out a helping hand.

 

A woman of influence does not get swelled up, shoulder high with annoying pride so huge one can literally use a sword to cut through; she’s down to earth, ready to emulate the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ. She’s ever pleasant with warm and wonderful smiles on her face, never waiting for people to exchange pleasantries before she cheerfully say hello to them without pretence.  In addition, are nine key attributes of a woman of influence one should always remember:

• She’s a positive thinker: She sees possibilities in every situation, always reminding herself that nothing shall be impossible to them that believe. She’s not afraid of being whatever her creator can possibly make of her (an amazing daughter that brings honour to her parents, a blessed wife, a sweet mother, a gifted and talented person, an inventor of good things, a creative CEO of a fast growing organization, a speaker that has the ability to spread life enriching values, she a jewel of inestimable value, on and on the list goes).
• She’s sure and confident of who she is: She doesn’t chase after the wind, wanting to become like some other people through unhealthy comparison (there isn’t a need to change her skin or hair colour, or going for surgeries that are uncalled for…she knows she’s honourable in every way), She’s one of a kind, she knows she is loves and lovable, she knows she’s beautiful and cannot be deceived by anyone, she never procrastinates and very responsible in everything she does.
• She’s a great comfort to her husband, her children, and her entire generation. Her appearance brings a sigh of relieve at all times.
• She’s an investor, she never gives up, she’s a good listener and teachable.
• She’s an early riser and an amazing cook. Her meals bring joy to the soul.
• She’s focused: She has ability to sort out and define what matters as she can sift through noise and clutter, and determine what is important for she never gets lost in the mundane.
• She’s trustworthy, original, and can make thoughtful decision as she would not just follow the norm.
• She’s a person of integrity, doesn’t steal or cheat and has ability to set priorities,
• More importantly she’s a praying personality, her confidence is from God, and she also has the capacity to signify the light that sets darkness on its heels to flee without any reason to look back.

The female ability to influence cannot be downplayed.  For instance, a baby first point of contact is with the mother, she is the first mirror the baby sees. What this implies is that women are of enormous influence in any society. The people of the world recognized this fact, hence, their exploitation and commodification of the female sexuality to market their goods and services.

However, a woman of influence requires a lot of dedication to staying focus to a worthy course and the inculcation of values such as humility, altruism, steadfastness, selflessness, perseverance, and a high sense of moral rectitude. Added to this, women must be catalyst of positive development to others through purposeful mentoring and godly enlightenment. Our lives and doings must be of good exemplary value to others. It is also incumbent that for one to become a woman influence one must eschew selfishness, wanton hedonism, backbiting, promotion of ungodly virtues, covetousness, and lack of humility. The truth right now is that we need to keep shining our light for the world to see so that our heavenly father would be glorified.

 

RUTH ABRAHAM.

Ruth Abraham has a strong passion to see people get the best out of life by developing an unwavering spirit inspired by God Almighty. She is an Environmentalist, a song writer, a youth advocate, a speaker, author and the founder of Soaring Eagle Generation (SEG) which is a youth advocacy and empowerment platform. ruthieabby@gmail.com soaringeaglegeneration2014@gmail.com , http://www.soaringeagleng.org