Girls: The Mystery Unveiled - Part 2

"Sometimes it's hard to be a woman..." -Tammy Wynette

If you missed Part One, go back and read it. Because now we're on to Part Two.

In all honesty, I might be skipping about 1 million other topics that might should have gone in front of this one, but this is on my heart and is so overlooked that I don't feel the series can continue until this is out in the open.

In Part Two of Andy Merrick's series Why Guys Aren't Asking You Out, he mentions that guys aren't asking girls out because of their vast immaturity. (OK, OK. Yes, he said immaturity. I added the vast part. Sue me.) Anyway, the funny thing is, most girls aren't lonely because guys aren't asking them out. Girls are lonely because they're waaaaaay out of touch with their hearts. Yes, I'll explain. Read on...

Sorry Tammy, there's no sometimes about it... it's just plain hard to be a woman. Everytime I begin to think about the woman I should be, my mind automatically drifts off to the vision of "The Proverbs 31 Woman." She's beautiful. She's sweet. She's irritatingly perfect. Her life is so busy that I wonder when she has time for a career or for friendships or for reading those trashy romance novels. Her light never goes out at night?? When does she have sex? If that was the only picture of a woman I was ever given, I could never live up to that! And I don't think that a sense of failure is very Godly at all.

I know that I am not alone in my sense of failing to live up to expectations. In fact, so many of you who read my blog have commented and sent me e-mails just to tell me stories of your insecurities or your sense of failure. It seems like the only thing common to all women is a feeling of not being good enough as a woman. And this doesn't mean we feel like a failure at what we do... we feel like a failure at who we are. We go through these insane stages of being too much and not enough at the same time... not pretty enough, not thin enough, not nice enough, not disciplined enough. But then we're too emotional, too clingy, too independent, too opinionated. It's INSANE!! And in all our trying to measure up, we've forgotten the most important thing of all - our hearts.

In the book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge, they offer nuggets of wisdom that are far beyond the scope of my little blog. But they absolutely nail down the three things every woman's heart longs for: romance, adventure, and beauty. Think about the all the movies that have been so sensitively dubbed by guys as "chick flicks." Don't they include all of these things? Is there a chick flick out there that doesn't include some form of a handsome prince coming to rescue his beloved? It's the absolute truth! Most of the problems women have in relationships (and the lack thereof) stem from these three things... or rather from a lack of, perversion of, or ignorance of these three things.

The deep longings of a woman's heart have been written there by God Himself, telling us something about what it means to be a woman. Whatever it is we feel like we are - or aren't - it's important to remember that we, too, are created in the image of God as women. Genesis says "male and female He created them." So whatever our longing are, whatever our desires are, whatever we're meant to do or be... our hearts were purposefully created as a reflection of God's own heart.

Over the years, women learn to supress their deepest longings because it just doesn't seem possible. Some of these desires have long since gone unmet. Some have been assaulted... or even neglected. The result is the same... women end up living two lives. On the surface we're busy, efficient, quiet, funny, sweet, professional. We're getting by, attempting to be all things to all people. We accept dates from any man who shows an interest. But on the inside, women are losing themselves in fantasy worlds, cheap novels, food, or some other addiction that was manifested to numb the ache of our longing hearts.

So what I wish I could tell you Andy (and women everywhere) is this: women aren't lonely because guys aren't asking them out. See, I have this theory that until I find "The One," every guy I go out with will end up a jerk. But it's not because he really was a jerk... it's because my heart wasn't ready. I have spent a lot of my time working on my heart, and here's what I can offer...

Guys, if you don't know how to communicate with a girl, take this advice: Make her a priority. It really doesn't matter where the dates are or how much money you have. It doesn't matter so much about your family background or how clean your car is. What matters is how much of a priority you have made her. Girls want to be pursued (and not in that creepy-stalker sort of way), and an honest word will go a long way.

Girls, if you're not going on lots of dates, it might be time for a heart check-up. Please don't misunderstand me... I don't believe that a woman MUST have a man in order to fulfill her destiny as a woman. But I know how my single heart yearns, and I know that I'm not the only one. It's time to quit wondering why guys aren't asking us out and start identifying what our priorities are. Is it more important to go on a date... or to go on the right date with the right person? If I have to wait a few more Friday nights before Prince Godsend finds me, so be it.

So I guess that loneliness, like so many other things, is what you make it. Until next time...

Oh, the Soapbox...

It's been a while, but it's that time again... time for me to get on my soapbox!! I know lots of you were expecting my next installment of "Girls: The Mystery Unveiled." I certainly have plans to do that later this week. I'm... uh... still getting my research together. (Yeah, that's it.) Anyway, here are the soapbox topics for today: Attitudes in the Workplace, Government Health Care, and Global Warming. So, without any further ado...

TOPIC 1: ATTITUDES IN THE WORKPLACE

(DISCLAIMER: I am not writing this to offend any of my workplace readers, and I cannot point fingers at anyone because I, too, am guilty of some of these offensive attitudes.)

Everyone has bad days. Believe me, I get it. There are days when everyone is stressed out. There are days when we're all sick and tired of seeing each other more than we see our families or friends. I GET IT. But here's the thing: There is a business to run, whether we like it or not. I don't always love my job. Heck, I don't always like my job. But I do like (and even love) having a job. And I like having a safe, calm, pleasant place to work.

Unfortunately that's not always the case. There are those days when tempers rear their ugly heads and everyone's walking on eggshells so as not to offend anyone and, in turn, reap the unpleasant consequences. Add the tension on top of zero staff meetings, high-stress, and an office full of women. Sounds like the Perfect Storm to me.

Not all of you work in an office full of women. Some of you work in a huge company with lots of different people around. Some of you work in restaurants or hospitals or even at home. But the thing is, ALL OF US are stressed out MOST OF THE TIME. The workplace is never ideal because it's a pretty rare thing when someone says, "You know, I really love being over-worked and under-paid. I think I'll go get me a minimum-wage, high-stress job in an office full of women (or men or lawyers or whatever else you can think of)." We don't live to work... we work to live. (You know, I actually stole that phrase from Jillian Michaels on The Biggest Loser, except I'm pretty sure she said we shouldn't live to EAT, we should EAT to live. I'm also pretty sure she's full of it.)

Anyway, to all of you out there who are just working to live... to those who have "just a job"... all I'm asking is this: Give the rest of us a break. There are actually some of us who aren't working here just to live. For some of us, this is not "just a job"... it's our career. We chose it because, in obvious contrast to your personal feelings about it, we actually like the work. Or we used to... before you starting whining and complaining about every little thing, making fun of others, or just flat-out refusing to do things that you just don't feel like doing. So while you roll in about 9am, mentally check in about noon, and leave at five, some of us don't. It might be just a job to you, but remember that the more pleasant you are, the better your references are for your next job. And don't be afraid to start looking for your perfect job... and probably sooner rather than later or else the rest of us might be tempted to throw you out a window. No offense.

TOPIC 2: GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE

Please let me start this topic off by saying that I love rich people. They've always been nice enough to give me a job. The problem I'm having now is that there aren't going to be very many rich people left if the government can help it. Maybe that's putting it a little bluntly, but isn't that the real truth? Isn't the point of most government-sponsored programs to equalize the divide between the poor and the rich? Problem is, if we're all equal, WHO OFFERS THE JOBS??

Before you judge me, please know that I have spent a lot of my hard-earned money to provide food stamps, Medicare, and WIC to people in my own family. My opinion here is no respecter of persons. It's not that I don't want everyone to have adequate medical care; I do. I just don't think it's my job to provide it for them. I know so many of you are thinking that the government-sponsored health care program won't affect me, but you couldn't be more wrong.

I work for a small company of about 25 employees. 15 of those are independent contractors, responsible for paying their own taxes and providing themselves with their own insurance. They also make a LOT more than I do. 5 of those are part-time employees. The other 10 of us are making a lower hourly wage than many others in our same field, but we have full medical and dental insurance coverage. If the government sponsored health care plan passes, my employer will be required (not given the option) to either a) provide medical coverage to every employee equal to that which the government offers or b) pay a 6% payroll tax "to support Health Care for America" (taken from http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/healthcare/a/nathealthplan.htm).

I don't know about your employer, but we hire independent workers and part-time employees because we can't always afford to provide the high insurance premiums or the high taxes to hire folks full-time. We're a small company... you do the math. More taxes or higher insurance premiums will mean fewer jobs that can be offered. And that's not OK with me.

But wait... there's more! Here's what the program offers me and you: "For persons already covered by employer-provided health insurance, Health Care for America would virtually eliminate the suddenly very real threat of losing coverage because of layoffs." How would it do that, you ask? Well by "requiring that Americans who remain without insurance either purchase private coverage or buy into the Health Care for America Plan." Wow... so when or if you lose your job or quit working for whatever reason, your government will require that you either PURCHASE your own private insurance or PURCHASE insurance from the government. What a deal!

It scares me the length that our government will go to in order to get our money. We already are paying 20+% in income taxes, 7-10% in sales taxes, and thousands more in gasoline taxes to drive to work, ad velorum taxes to purchase a tag for our vehicle that we use to get to work, and even death taxes when we've finally had enough. It's insane! Do we even keep any of our money??

TOPIC 3: GLOBAL WARMING

I hesitate to write much on this subject because I know it's so touchy, but then I figured that the only people reading this far are the ones that I didn't previously offend with my government-sponsored health care tirade. So, what the heck. I'll continue...

I do not believe global warming exists. At least not man-made global warming. OK, go ahead. Call me crazy. I can wait... OK, anyway, for those of you still with me, I'm moving on.

Consider this: The government (my favorite topic of the day!) has issued new legislature that requires (again, no options here) companies to reduce carbon emissions to a certain point or else face high taxes and penalities. OK, I really shouldn't have to go here, but some of you still don't get the point... If global warming is a serious threat (and is there any other kind of threat?) and if you TRULY believe that global warming is causing serious, irreversible damage to the planet and to humankind in general... then at what point will taxes and monetary penalities be OK? If you really believe that global warming is true, WHY would buying carbon credits get you out of the hole? If it's truly the threat that you believe it is, there would be no amount of money that would "correct" the problem or otherwise cause you to look the other way.

Maybe I'm being too harsh. Maybe I'm too conservative. Maybe I think too much. Whatever you believe about me is your opinion, and that's fine by me. My words are by no means gospel. But I do know this: God never intended for us to live this way... offending each other, criticizing each other, hurting each other. If someone is in ligitimate need, we should help him! We should encourage him! We should give him the tools necessary to allow him to provide for himself. But we should not provide it for him. Otherwise, we begin to breed an entire generation of people who are content with handouts instead of hard work.