Have fun with it
We have more options than any generation of women before us -- and pressure comes with it.
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Social media has given us opportunities that no other generation has had before. Especially women.
I think back to my grandma’s generation where her options were, quite literally, telephone operator (like Marvelous Mrs Maisel kind of telephone operator) and/or a secretary. She’s 86. That wasn’t that long ago.
Then you fast forward to my mother’s generation. They were told they could be a littttttle bit more than a telephone operator or a secretary. Like a nurse or a teacher. And both are incredible admirable and necessary jobs. But the point is, those were still the few options women were handed. The menu had a few more items, but the idea of limitless possibilities wasn’t really on the table yet.
And now there’s our generation. The 80’s & 90’s babies generation. The millennial millennial generation. Some of us were told we can be whatever we want to be. While others were told occupations and dreams that still kept them in a box.
Either way, it’s 2026, the cats out of the bag, and options are endless. Thanks to social media. A true gift to the modern woman if we’re being honest.
The potential
Because of it stay at home moms can make six figures because people are inspired by how they cook, or dress, or think. People with passions, ideas, and points of view can now put it out into the world and those who find it interesting will follow them. Buy from them. Subscribe to them. Then brands show up and add a whole extra layer of monetization to this wide open galaxy of potential.
We no longer have to have these limited titles of occupations to choose off a menu. Which is a wild concept considering two generations ago we would’ve been working that switchboard up there.
Now we have options. We have agency. We have reach and influence. And if we want it to, it can pay better than any occupation we ever considered before.
Find the fun in it
But that kind of endless opportunity comes with pressure doesn’t it?
Pressure to find your thing. Pressure to put yourself out there. Pressure to stay consistent in order for it to ‘work’.
Here’s what I think we’re missing in all this opportunity: the fun in it.
The most interesting creators entrepreneurs writers and doers of the world are the ones having fun with their thing.
Here are some of my favorite substackers to follow in the ‘having fun’ category:
Ariane Anusbigian
Antonia
Emily Sundberg
tariro makoni
Madeline Rose Nachbar
Paula Sanders
You can feel their fun. One day they said F it and just started. They said what will be will be — que sera sera! and hit post. And as they continued to do that their people started showing up. One by one.. little by little.
When you find your fun, you find your voice. You find your thing. You find your influence. And influence is what makes you different.
A personal brand is exactly that: personal.
If not for you, for the generations before us
There’s something powerful in remembering that not long ago.. women would have killed for this.
The chance to stay home with their kids and still make an income doing something they love to do. The chance to feel like they had a voice and people actually wanted to hear it enough they’d pay for it. The chance to build something from scratch of their own.
Remembering that should be a reminder to actually enjoy the process. To put yourself out there without apologizing for it.
And if not for you, for every woman before us who never got the chance to.
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beyond touched x
Adoreeee this. Such a thoughtful take, Meg. Endless opportunity as both a gift and a source of pressure...bingo! "Find the fun in it" feels like the antidote so many of us need to hear. Thank you for including me in such wonderful company. Tables Ready is one of my favorite weekly reads. Your words and perspective are a gift!