Be your own (S)HERO.

“How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!”  Maya Angelou
I really don't like an expression 'better half' or a 'prettier half' for women. I never considered myself to be a half of a person (well, maybe when I was 10kg lighter ;)). 
Being a half sounds like I lost a half of myself when I entered the relationship. I imagine those couples who share facebook account, toilet where he is pooping and she is shaving her legs at the same time and calling each other 'honey bunny' in a grocery store consider themselves two halves of a one whole. 
HOW I MADE A TOUGH DECISION. 
Ever since I moved to Barcelona and embarked on a new personal and professional adventure living in much different surroundings of people then before I find myself spending much more time thinking about and seeing women cutting themselves short. 
From being surrounded with highly competitive business women in US, mostly solely focused on careers and often staying single to to moving to Croatia where I observed some ladies in my company trying to juggle (and doing it successfully) their private life, their family (where they still assume the traditional role where they cook, clean and care about kids) and demanding careers in international corporation. Often looking really exhausted. 
Next I moved to Budapest where there was a bigger office and I noticed there were much more single or divorced women then in Croatia. All of this made me wonder how difficult it really is to have both fulfilling career and happy personal life for a women?
'CAREER' WOMEN vs. 'ATHLETES GIRLFRIEND'.
Today when I (subjectively) observe myself 2-5 years in retrospect I wonder how did I appear to people? I don't like to put myself or anyone else in a box and label them but from society point of view I am assuming many considered me a single women focused on a carrier only and there is nothing wrong with that. In early twenties my carrier did take priority in my life and I wouldn't want to have it any other way. Looking back I didn't think about family as I yet didn't meet a man I would like to have family with.
I made professional-emotional decision to finish my corporate career in P&G and go back to work in fashion industry. Not working was never an option. I co-launched my own online fashion business which allows me location free work and as such accommodates my personal life of being in a relationship with a professional athlete. 

“Women need to shift from thinking "I'm not ready to do that" to thinking "I want to do that- and I'll learn by doing it.”  Sheryl Sandberg
In this new environment I live, most ladies I am surrounded with are not working. Some of them are starting to follow their personal dreams once their husbands finish their basketball careers,  while some commit to be full time mums (which is, lets face it often more then a full time job).          These women are beautiful and smart and many are really talented in area of their interest but do not have financial need to work, they are changing the country they live in often (sometimes every year) and in all this location insecurity somehow never get to start to do anything truly for themselves as years go by, and they go by fast, they continue to be fully dependent on their husbands. 
BE YOUR OWN (S)HERO.
In comparison, I personally don't think it's healthy to live only for your career or at least I never met a person who was 100% happy having no personal life to go home to after work. 
On the other side, the goal of working and having a career is not only financial, working and developing your interests, learning, accomplishing things and creating something new from scratch and making a world better place for yourself and your kids is one of the reasons to live.
 I think that women who work are also better mothers as you are teaching your kids working habits by example. Women who work are also better girlfriends and wives as they husbands don't need to carry a burden of being the only provider for the family and in general they respect you more as independent from them and having your own life, your own personality, interests and value as a person.

HAPPY WOMAN'S DAY LADIES!
No matter if you decide to be a full time mother, run your own business, work in a firm or fly to the moon never stop learning and never stop chasing your dreams! There is nothing in this world you cannot achieve! If you want to make people you love happy, start with making yourself happy first!

XoXo