Has “Lazy Girl” Arrived?
Just during the past few weeks, I have heard the term, “Lazy Girl” being tossed around by several of my client hiring managers. I didn’t think anything of it until I saw a full-page article in Monday’s WSJ discussing this new rage.
What is a “Lazy Girl?”
After doing a deep dive on this, I discovered several self-styled Tic Toc personalities (one with over 4.25 million viewers) advising young women to no longer lean into exciting or challenging professions, but to look for something “low stress” and, instead, fly under the radar.
What?? Are you kidding me? This takes, “Quiet Quitting” to entirely different level.
The reasoning behind Lazy Girl is to reside in a safe place where your anxiety level will be minimized so that you can, “enjoy life, be happy…and not deal with unnecessary work pressures…live life without worry!”
The key words I kept running across were “worry” and “anxiety.”
I don’t want to overstate this trend, but where there is smoke, there is fire.
And I do see the underlying point. Young people are very anxious. I have three Gen Z sons. They are anxious about a lot of things. Politics. Personal finances. The Election. Student debt. Social Security. There’s a lot out there right now for young people to be worried about.
But there is a difference between being “anxious” and having an “anxiety disorder”, which, of course, is a medical condition. That is a serious issue.
But isn’t being “anxious” sort of the same thing as being stressed out?
Heck, in my professional career, I’ve been motivated by fear of failure (stress) since I had a paper route 50 years ago. I am still motivated by fear of failure today. I have a family to provide for.
Then there’s us parents! Many of my neighbors readily admit to writing their children’s college essays, doing their homework, attending EVERY sporting event yelling encouragement from the sidelines, and coddling them at every junction.
Every time I turn around a friend of mine is buying their kid a new car or providing for a downpayment on a house. It took me 15 years of scrounging and scheming to save up enough for a downpayment on my first house.
I look out my window every morning and see hoards of parents putting their kids on the school bus. These are 7th and 8th graders! Is that really necessary?
Newsflash: Maybe WE are the problem. The problem may be that us parents have never given our kids the opportunity to fail. Everyone gets a trophy now, right?
So, is it any surprise that our young people are anxious; having trouble dealing with obstacles they are now encountering in the work place without mommy and daddy standing over them?
I’m going to keep this in mind when visiting with my grandchildren this weekend!
I always welcome your ideas, thoughts, and feedback!
rob houghton
