What International Women’s Day really means to me — and the story I promised you.
Happy Monday — and Happy International Women’s Day.
Last week I asked you: What deserves your full presence right now?
Today I want to answer the harder question underneath that one:
What happens when you choose yourself — and everything still feels like it’s falling apart?
There was a season while building Protean Med when I was holding everything together on the outside while quietly coming apart on the inside.
One evening, sitting alone in my car, one thought stopped me cold:
I don’t remember the last time I felt like myself.
That was my turning point.
Not a retreat. Not a breakthrough moment. Just one quiet, honest question:
Who am I building this for — and is she someone I actually want to become?
I had confused sacrifice with strategy. I had confused endurance with strength.
The truth I wish someone had told me sooner:
You cannot tend to yourself “once things settle.” You have to tend to yourself in the middle of the mess.
So this International Women’s Day, I’m not asking you to celebrate how much you can carry.
I’m asking you this:
What’s one part of yourself you’ve quietly set aside — and is it time to take it back?
Just one thing. Start there.
You are not behind. You are not failing. You are building something the world wasn’t originally designed to make easy for you.
That is everything.
See you next Monday.
Rajee Hari | Founder, Protean Med www.proteanmed.com | rajee@proteanmed.com
#MondayMorningCoffee #IWD2026 #WomenInLeadership #SheBuiltItAnyway #MondayMotivation