Wednesday Wisdom: Always Ascending

Wednesday Wisdom, Inspiration, Motivation for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Women

Every single morning as I take my bike off the back of my car, I choose the path I’ll take. Some days when the wind is blowing hard, I know the West Lake Trail will be challenging on the way over the bridge that ascends slowly over time to the turnaround point five miles away. As I crest the hill there have been times my bike felt like it wasn’t moving no matter my strenuous efforts because the wind is a massive force of nature when it chooses. All I do is let my legs work as hard as they can with a mind of steel determination until the turnaround point allows me to catch my breath and enjoy the descend.

Until recently was there only one long ascent to master but alas the trail was extended down a long path on larger hill then it the trail flattens around the lake to another turnaround point going over a railroad bridge. What is a tenacious girl to do when there’s another challenge to behold – not take it? Come on, you have to take it. So down the larger hill I road one day, refusing to apply my brakes, knowing it was going to be the joyful part of the journey. On the way back as the steep hill approached, I promised myself not to stop my bike no matter how tough it got to peddle upwards. Again, I felt the bike not moving half way up the difficult hill until I crested it at a pace slower than a turtle.

As I received notice yesterday that SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley was retiring from her post after 26 years of superb leadership at the helm of my alma mater, I applauded her for the ascension she made at the time when few women were college presidents. Deborah was my one-time business law teacher in the 1980s and I watched her climb the ranks to a new position on top of her own hill overlooking windy Lake Ontario.

Riding my bike today, I took the double hard hill trail to salute her for her arduous climb and longevity in Oswego and for the many times she mentored me and saluted Women TIES at our 10^th Anniversary celebration with a glass of champagne and words of wisdom. What you might not know about Deborah is how she has accelerated women to leadership roles in every position around her and was focused on diversity a long time ago. She is a power house of a petite, brilliant woman I have always respected and will miss.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is to encourage you to keep elevating your business and mind every chance you have. Remember you can follow in the footsteps of women today and yesterday who have shown us how to climb through the ranks. When you come to a fork in the road, as I do daily during my bike rides, choose the more difficult road in front of you because not only will it elevate your spirit, it teaches you a lesson about yourself every time you do and that taking the hard route eventually becomes the easy one until there is another hill. Keep ascending.