It isn’t always easy being the girl in the band. In fact, it isn’t always easy being the girl! This week I heard yet another statistic making its way across the media about how women over 50 have a better chance of being struck by lightning than they do at getting a better job. This reminded me of “the better chance of a woman getting struck by lightning as they do of getting married after 38” one that went around a few years back.
It is starting to feel like these statisticians (probably NOT women) are just trying to keep a good girl down! Besides not appreciating the Debbie Downer tone of the whole thing, I have some questions on this one.
Can we get some specifics?
What is a better job? More money? More satisfaction? My new job’s pay was a little under what I had been making at my last job, but the chance to try new things and make a career change to something I really enjoy, makes it a “ better job.” The commute is killer, but nothing is perfect. And guess what? It has not even crossed my mind that this is “the best” job or even “the last job”. What I am doing didn’t even exist when I entered the workforce bagging fries at McDonald’s. Why would I think there isn’t something else cool out there I might end up doing before I finally end up in a rocking chair instead of rocking out on stage?
Who works at getting hit by lightning?
Getting hit by lightning is the opposite of winning the lottery, but they both have to do with that elusive thing called luck. One is bad, the other is good, but neither one has anything to do with hard work, passion and heart. Yes, standing around waiting for something to hit you or your numbers to come in, are a one in trillion, but going out and making something happen, takes those lovely odds and puts them right where they belong- in the porcelain facility.
Why are these lightning facts mostly about women?
I always wonder why these “struck by lightning” stats only get applied to men when we start talking about winning the lottery. Ever notice that? How come we never hear a man has a better chance of being struck by lightning than he does of ever dating a super model? I will tell you why. Because most men would never believe it! They go through live thinking the world is there for the taking, something we as women, sometimes forget.
Without getting too specific about my birthday, I have been struck by lightning. More than once, if I count all the times someone told me I would never run my own band, buy my own house, get a decent job without a college degree. The list goes on and on.
So next time you hear one of those media things that makes your stomach get a pit in it, look up in the sky. The lightning is on the way.
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