Growing up in Texas, I always heard about snipe hunting. For those of you who haven’t heard of a snipe hunt… well, let’s just say that it belongs in the same category with jack-a-lopes, cow tipping & the gold at the end of the rainbow. So, I thought it rather odd when a snipe hunt came to my mind the other day during a meeting. I was with a group of smart, successful women planning an event this week titled “The Confident Woman”. But when we looked up the definition of “confident”, it suddenly hit me that we might simply be on a snipe hunt.

con·fi·dent –adjective

1. having strong belief or full assurance; sure: confident of fulfillment.

2. sure of oneself; having no uncertainty about one’s own abilities, correctness, successfulness, etc.; self-confident; bold

3. excessively bold; presumptuous.

4. Obsolete Confiding; trustful

Hmmmm… full assurance and no uncertainty? Most days I can hardly decide what to have for lunch! Bold or presumptuous? I’m bold in some of my fashion choices, does that count?. Obsolete? I might love Spanks, reading glasses and Botox but I refuse to be obsolete! Seriously, who came up with that definition?

With vision of snipes, or in my case, confident women, dancing in my head, I wondered if I could wrangle one in and learn it’s day-to-day habits. Or maybe I could just sneak out the back door and no one would notice that I’m a woman in snipe’s clothing. Yep… I suddenly felt like a mythical fraud.

As my eyes darted toward the nearest exit, I happened to notice that the other women were also suddenly figidty. So, I took a deep breath and decided to stay a bit longer. Boy, I’m glad I did. The six of us are different sizes, ages and colors yet we all agreed…a ‘confident woman’ is definitely not the textbook definition.

As each of us described our own views of a ‘confident woman’… my snipe hunt became a distant memory. Instead of something unattainable, I began to think of my mother — a women who’s always smiling and tries to do the right things for the right reasons. Also, many Girlfriends came to mind — the ones who follow their hearts, don’t quit and encourage others because they’re not threatened. Sure, confident women make mistakes and fall down but we all agreed that they don’t let their fears rule their lives.

Maybe a confident woman isn’t as elusive as a snipe, after all. She’s neither mythical nor impossibly perfect, but instead she is a woman who may feel helpless at times but never hopeless. There is confident woman inside of all of us.. no matter the size of our home, what we do for a career, or the number of kids we do or don’t have. I look forward to putting my snipe hunting days behind me and meeting even more of these women. Let’s face it, there’s always strength in numbers.

Photo Credit © Radist | Dreamstime.com

Emmy award winning TV Broadcaster Cindy W Morrison successfully reinvented herself after the economy lead to corporate downsizing. Leaving a 20 year news career behind, Cindy wrote a book, hit the speaking circuit and created her own consulting business. She now teaches people how to reboot, upgrade and reinvent through networking, social media and branding so they can make more money and live a better life.