Confidence

 It annoys me. It annoys me when I see young women being deferent and apologising for everything. I probably do a milder version of the same thing as well. But when I see them unsure, looking for validation, hungry for approval, it makes me cringe. And I wonder if I have gone beyond this stage. I wish I could go back in time and just tell myself to look more confident and feel more sure of what I was doing. I really wonder why women, especially Indian woman tend to be so underconfident. Is it part of our social conditioning which tells us that deference is the right way to move ahead. Or do we passively imbibe the signals we get that somehow women are less capable and more dependent when we grow up. I am ofcourse over generalising and there are plenty of indian women who are extremely sure of their steps and need no reassurance. And this in no way is applicable to them. But to the rest of the young women, especially those in medicine, since thats the only area I am well versed with, I wish I could tell them that their thoroughness and attention to detail results in far better patient outcomes than their counterparts. That "fake it till you make it" may be controversial, but in this cut throat world, noone will come up and tell us that what we are doing is the right thing. We must do the best we can and walk out with our heads held high with certainty.