By: Tatiana Kombo — Contributor

This past year has shown a lot of progress for women. Though we have a very long way to go, I am genuinely excited about how far we have come. Especially in North America and in the UK, resources, communities and groups are being created to help women and girls share ideas, tips and thrive as individuals. It is a fantastic feeling of connectedness, a wonderful result of necessity, unity and technology. As Gen Y women, we are more united in our diversity than we sometimes know. We all stress about certain things- mostly career-related.

Sometimes, we allow too much comparison, too much stress and too much negativity to enter our minds and impede on our personal successes. Meredith Lepore published a recent article in which she stated that women should stop apologizing so much. I agree. We, as career-driven women, tend to say sorry far too often. It is so important for us all to realize that by attempting to please everyone and fit everyone’s standards, we will fail, and consequently see our self-confidence and sense of self-worth decrease. Let’s just think: who do we think of pleasing every day? Every morning, who does our to-do list benefit? What is at the top of the list?  Rarely do we put ourselves first. If we choose to re-prioritize this, things will start falling into place. Confidence is not something to apologize for. Trying things out, thinking outside of the box and not falling into the high school-4-year-college-internship-fantastic-job mold does not mean we are not successful. Each of us have a chance to redefine success and happiness, but we cannot do that unless we care for ourselves, center ourselves, and accept that life hands us difficult tests sometimes.

Passion is what makes us grow, makes us driven, makes us reach our goals and makes us good at what we do. If we replace passion with a predefined idea of where we should be at in our lives, we will add stress to an already stressful life!  It might seem cliché, but we all spend far too much time thinking about what we are lacking instead of focusing on our strengths. Karl Lagerfeld said, “Personality begins where comparison ends.” Make your journey your own. Seek constant inspiration elsewhere, grow from the incredible network of women we are a part of, and create your own life plan.

Raised in Paris, educated in Boston and based in London, Tatiana Kombo is the Marketing, Social Media and Content Manager at BOE Magazine. She is also a freelance writer and fashion photographer with a passion for journalism, feminism, social entrepreneurship and public relations. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tatianakombo and Tumblr: http://tatianakombo.tumblr.com/