You’re going to make it after all.
That simple sentence sung during the theme song to The Mary Tyler Moore Show was prophetic for me as a little kid watching reruns after school. While all the other kids were watching cartoons or PBS, I was tuned in to 70’s sitcom fodder including The Brady Bunch, Good Times, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Mary Richards was my heroine and I chuckled like an adult as some of the over-my-head adult humor, and besides Florida Evans (Good Times), Julia Baker (Julia), and Alice Hyatt (Alice), was my first peak into what it was like to be a working woman.
Mary Tyler Moore is no longer with us, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t celebrate the awesomeness that ended up being her biggest triumph and most memorable role.
In the days of #MeToo, us women can use all of the encouragement we can get. Here are 5 quotes from the incomparable Mary Tyler Moore that inspire women and help propel us to go higher and harder.
You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.
Obstacles and adversity help build you are a woman. It seasons you and toughens you up so that you can fight the good fight at work and at home. You can’t properly do that if you aren’t prepared—that includes enduring sometimes awful things.
Bravery comes from going through painful experiences. If you’ve only had to endure tiptoeing through the tulips, then how can you be brave? Bravery comes from overcoming.
I am with YOU, Mary!
Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.
Playing it safe is so 1950’s. In order to grow as a woman and make headway, you have to take chances and go out on a limb. You might fail, you might be a wreck afterwards, but it will all be worth it.
As women, we have to have courage to prepare the next crop of young ladies coming behind us. Lead with bravery and courage. Our littles are watching.
Sometimes you have to get to know someone really well to realize you’re really strangers.
Friends—how many of us have them? There are instances in your grown woman life that you truly learn who your friends are and who were just surface acquaintances. Time usually unveils all of this, and it takes a strength of a woman to understand this lesson.
Having a dream is what keeps you alive. Overcoming the challenges makes life worth living.
No matter your age, color, creed, background, dreaming is not optional—it is necessary. When you stop dreaming, some would say you stop living. Be strong and proud of your dreams, accomplished and still on the horizon. When realized, it is the best feeling ever.
Worrying is a necessary part of life
Yeah, yeah—we know that we aren’t supposed to worry. But that doesn’t stop us from doing so. It is a part of life as a woman to have a little worry in your life. Don’t let it control you, but also don’t let it get you down.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show was one of the first of its kind to showcase a working woman so prominently during primetime TV fight for equal pay, equal rights, and a seat at the table. I hope these quotes inspire you to be a true BOSS!
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