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"Girl Boss" Envy: Does It Make You Better Or Bitter?

Let's flip the coin!

By Sally From The Shine ProjectPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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"Girl Boss" Envy: Does It Make You Better Or Bitter?
Photo by Hayley Maxwell on Unsplash

“Girl Boss” is a term that has been very trendy these last couple of years. So trendy in fact, that every woman with a kind of career or business success labels herself as a girl boss.

Overachievers, women with several streams of income, investments, multiple businesses or even just one business are “Girl Bosses”.

We see them everywhere on social media, especially Instagram, making $30k per month, wearing only channel bags, traveling here and there..and living the life of their dreams (they say).

Instagram in itself with its visuals can be either motivating or depressing. Instagram life is more often than not highly deceptive as well since it captures moments not necessarly with true candidness and spontaneity but with...filters. It's like we put on makeup on own life before deciding to post it on Instagram.

Anyway, back to the Girl Boss concept..

While I am certain the intention behind the invention of the term (actually first used as a hashtag on twitter I believe) was made with good intentions: the desire to empower women, instill some self-confidence by leading with example and encourage them to believe in their entrepreneurial skills; I also have personally witnessed the bad aspects of this trend all around me.

It seemed it resulted in more envy than motivation, pushing women to feel more bitter about their present situation as opposite to motivating them to do better.

I personally think that EVERY woman is a BOSS. Which is why I never use the term and just don’t..like it!

It created a streotype, insinuating, that for women to be considered as “bosses” they have to be their own “boss” in the work area; They have to have amazing careers, their own business, be entrepreneurs or have a super high unrealistic income and be overachievers with fingers and toes dipped in every market or niche out there: blogging, podcasting, online selling, teaching..etc

I say, no we don’t have to be THIS kind of “Girl bosses”.

I am an architect and a female entrepreneur. No, I don’t make $30k per month. But I also only do what I really enjoy doing, never pushing myself into different directions just because I CAN and they can make me more money.

At the end of the day, I don’t want to be always planning my next money making scheme; I’m not interested in always giving and coming up with more and more ideas at the expense of my me time and my mental and emotional health.

Some women don’t want a career, they prefer to be housewives. Some women don’t want a business, they love the comfort of a 9 to 5 job. Some don’t want to enlarge their business, they like the small scale of it. And it’s more than OKAY. It’s not anormal.

We’re all still “Girl Bosses”.

This is what I think, the concept should be really about.

Don’t look at these overachiever women and think, they’re doing more in 24 hours than I do in 3 months, how do they do that? What’s wrong with me?

Think: they’re doing exactly what they want to do. Regardless of their diploma or university degree. There is no rule. The sky is really their limit.

And that’s what you’re allowed to do too as a woman. If you want to be a housewife and enjoy precious times with your kids, you’re your own “Boss”, do it.

If you want to become a “handywoman”, do it. Again, you’re your own boss.

Each coin has two faces. If we flip the coin and simply change the way we look at the term “Girl boss”, the envy could truly make us better as opposite to bitter.

Source: Originally written on Medium

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About the Creator

Sally From The Shine Project

A self-made entrepreneur/writer.

From entrepreneurship, wellbeing, self-help to personal growth.

Join me for some tips & tricks to help you better your life.

You can show me some love here 💗 ☕️: buymeacoffee.com/sallyRQ

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