NAP Attends PA Conference for Women

The entire NAP staff was given the opportunity to unplug for the day and make connections with exceptional women at the 16th Annual Pennsylvania Conference for Women on October 2nd.  (Quick side note - it’s a little known fact that the NAP organization’s day to day tasks are completely handled by women, from our President and Executive Director all the way to our full-time employees.) This conference featured speakers on a variety of subjects as they relate to women with regards to both professional and personal development. With topics ranging from executive leadership, personal finance, entrepreneurship, and work/life balance along with everything in between, there were so many great workshops full of amazing women speakers to attend.

 

One thing that struck us throughout the day was the resounding need to break the “perfection” bubble that we can all find ourselves trapped in whether in our professional or personal lives.  This idea of having to be perfect often keeps us as human beings from doing things that we think we might not be “perfect” at. For example, not entering a piece of art in an exhibit at your place of work because you feel like it’s not perfect or you’re not a perfect painter or sculptor.  

 

It was during a session featuring Reshma Saujani entitled “Brave, Not Perfect” that we were presented with a process for how to overcome this ideal. The session tackled the idea of training yourself to be brave rather than perfect just as you would train a muscle to be stronger.  Reshma touched on the idea of bravery challenges where you encourage yourself to do something outside of your comfort zone, something you might not be good at. Doing these challenges not only take courage to step outside your normal routine, but they help to build your ‘brave muscle’, as she refers to it.  These challenges can be anything from something as simple as trying an olive for the first time or getting involved with a local community organization.

 

So our bravery challenge for all of you is to choose a medium that you’re curious about and create a piece of art without the expectations of perfection. For all of you who are already creating, but have hesitated sharing it with anyone, we extend the bravery challenge for you to share your talents with someone whether through one of our shows or just one on one with a family member, a friend or a co-worker.