The Happier Woman Business
There’s been a lively conversation going on in the press and work-life blogosphere about the happiness level of contemporary U.S. women. The best summary of it is in Morra Aarons-Mele’s BlogHer post, which references a Huffington Post piece she co-authored with Ellen Galinsky of the Families and Work Institute. All of this (and much more) was sparked by the recent release of research results indicating that women’s overall happiness level has diminished over the last 40 years, and that for individuals, it diminishes as they get older.
Even Michele Obama weighed in on the topic of her own happiness, according to an AP piece last week. In it, she’s quoted as saying, “I have freed myself to put me on the priority list and say, yes, I can make choices that make me happy, and it will ripple and benefit my kids, my husband and my physical health.”
Michele’s comment is right on the mark, imho. But I am in the happier woman business, so my view is hopelessly skewed. As a life coach, I work with professional women who are dissatisfied (unhappy) with some aspect of their lives and who seek help in identifying and implementing appropriate changes. They take their own happiness and well-being seriously, and they know they it’s no one else’s job to do this for them. It’s a mindset and a skillset. I continuously learn from them.
My clients are a self-selecting group. Their very act of getting help identifies them as a subset that see themselves as agents of change. They believe in their own power and effectiveness to make an impact on their own situation.
These women are also coachable. They are willing to consider another way to look at things. They are willing to try out new behaviors. They are willing to learn and to risk.
Granted, not all sources of unhappiness can be “addressed.” Learning the implications of your son’s disability can be heartbreaking. The grief of losing a loved one can’t be “fixed.”
But all the more reason to be proactive on your own behalf when and where you can have an impact.
From where I sit, I see more and more people getting unstuck from unhappiness by taking advantage of the kinds of resources that have become more available and accessible in the last two decades: seminars, therapy, EAP programs, self-help books, career offices, coaches, professional trainings. How does it look from where you sit?
Add a Comment