A lesson in self-identity from the U.S. Census
March 30, 2010 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Health and Happiness
Photo by ed.ward
I don’t answer questions about race. I simply don’t identify myself or others that way. I wrote my college entrance essay on that topic more than 20 years ago and haven’t changed my mind since – even though the U.S. government hasn’t either. For awhile it seemed like we were making progress in moving away from this ‘standard’. My older sister and I were born in the same hospital but while her birth certificate lists race, mine does not. So I always check that ‘choose not to identify’ box on job applications or the like. My ancestors came from more than one continent, but even so it’s an archaic set of choices based on Victorian values and not genetics (or even culture.)
The U.S. Census this year devotes 20% of the questions to race and Hispanic ethnicity with no box to choose not to identify. That’s a lot considering that the purpose of the Census is to count the population in order to assign the districts and number of elected Representatives – and it’s illegal to use race in determining voting districts.
While I’m answering the questions pertinent to apportionment in Congress I’ve chosen to leave the race and Hispanic questions blank. I doubt anyone is going to come after me for it, but it still feels like civil disobedience. Particularly given all the warning letters in my mail about how answering is required by law (I read the law cited and it wasn’t quite that specific). I’m not doing this because of some conspiracy theory or fear of Big Brother. I’m doing it because I refuse to be defined that way. I see myself as a lot of things; a woman, a member of Gen X, an American, but not as a member of a race. I think it’s important not to let others force us to apply labels to ourselves that we don’t agree with whether that’s race on the Census or a limiting disability. If someone else wants to check a box based on what they think my blue eyes mean they’re free to do so, but I won’t do it for them.
The No Excuses Project: ‘I don’t have the right equipment’
December 30, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under No Excuses Project
Can something be both true and an excuse at the same time? If so, this excuse is the most likely candidate. There are times when not having the right equipment will keep you from moving forward on a goal – venturing into outer space for example. And there are some examples closer to home as well but it’s still no reason to stop cold in your tracks.
The real problem is that ‘I don’t have the right equipment’ is a corollary excuse – meaning it almost always partners with another one such as ‘I can’t afford it’ or ‘I have too much going on’ or even ‘I don’t have enough space’. If getting the equipment is going to be a research project involving hunting down reviews and the best price the whole thing can spiral out of control. So the first thing to do is figure out if there is any truth to the statement and to what degree it is really a barrier.
Say your bring goal was to become a photographer. It’s absolutely true that you will need a camera to make that a reality. It is not true that it has to be the latest $10K model, (particularly since the new hot thing is cell phone camera photography) nor is it a justifiable excuse for stopping completely and becoming a couch potato. There are a lot of books on the technical aspects, composition, and lighting which would benefit a lot of existing photographers if they would just put down their cameras and pick up their library card. It’s not nearly as much fun as pushing buttons but it will move you forward.
Sometimes it just hesitation about the timing – I know I’ve used this one just this week regarding setting up a subscription list for the website. In short I don’t have the mailing list service even though I know where to find it and how much it will cost (not that much) but I’ve put it off because my plan isn’t clear in my head yet – what am I really going to do with it once I have it and I’ve put the fields on the homepage? I know there’s more work than that! I’m working up to it with a plan and a deadline so it can’t continue to be an excuse nor do I make rash purchases just to get it over with.
Next week: ‘It will take a long time’
The No Excuses Project: ‘I don’t have any experience’
November 18, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under No Excuses Project
For some people this is an excuse not to start and for others (like me) it’s an excuse to stay in the learning phase without moving on to the doing. ‘I don’t have any experience’ may be one of the most popular excuses out there – it’s been used for everything from learning to play the piano to travelling to writing a love letter and beyond. Which if you think about it is just a little bit ridiculous because at some point the most famous person in the world had no experience in whatever it is that they are famous for.
Somewhere in our culture it became ingrained in most of us that there’s a time when it’s acceptable to look inexperienced, mostly before 25, and a time when you’re supposed to be past that. It might have been true when people had only one career and lived in the same town and never went anywhere they hadn’t been going to their entire childhoods, but that’s certainly not reality now.
Technically, the excuse actually is in how you finish the sentence. For example ‘I don’t have any experience therefore I’m not going to do anything’ or ‘I don’t have any experience so I’m going to read another book on the subject.’ Acknowledging your deficiency is one thing, letting it stop you is something else entirely. It would be wonderful if you could arrange apprenticeships for everything under the sun as a means to gain sheltered experience with support and that is certainly an option for some goals. But others, like traveling alone across Europe, you pretty much just have to prepare yourself in other ways and then do it. Gaining the experience is the experience.
Most things turn out to be made up of smaller components that actually are more familiar. I don’t have any experience in sales and that has served as an excuse to slow down my progress on some goals as I’ve put some things off until my comfort level adjusted itself through fairy magic or meditation – I didn’t really care which. But deep down I know that a big part of sales is talking to people and I do have experience in that, lots of it. Another part is knowledge and confidence in what you’re selling, not such a big leap there either. And the remainder is probably much bigger in my imagination than it is in reality, like so many things.
As I head off to the show this weekend with my brand new credit-card processing machine I’ll be reminding myself that my level of experience on Monday will be about quadruple what it was on Friday, regardless of the money involved. And at the very least I’ll have done something to stave off Alzheimer’s!
Next week: ‘It has never happened before’
Being myself
May 1, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Juliet's Journal
Last Friday was a very interesting day – so much so that most of the following week pales in comparison. I got up very early so that I could catch the good photographic light in the tulip fields (and avoid the crowds.) I made a quick web check as I was rushing around to make sure things were in good working order before I left for the day and practically swallowed my tongue in surprise.
When I really let my sense of humor out with no reservations, odd things happen so I tend to corral it more than I should. When I wrote an online personal ad in this voice I had over 200 responses in 24 hours which was nice but overwhelming. The last time I let it out at work, senior Vice Presidents at a national bank were texting me from a meeting after seeing my email on their blackberries. So maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised on Friday, but the urge had overtaken me earlier in the week anyway and I enjoyed writing something that I figured only a few people would see. The first comment to that blog ever was posted within an hour of that article going live and from the human subject of the post – you can see it here (scroll down to the first comment and you’ll begin to understand my reaction.)
The sheer odds of that happening for a blog that reached it’s peak so far of 20 visitors later that day had me grinning for the rest of Friday. And that exuberance of ‘anything can happen’ led me to take some artistic risks with the camera that resulted in some really great pictures. I do feel inspired when improbable things happen, because maybe more are on their way! Would I have written it differently if I’d thought the subject would read it? Probably, but now that he has, I don’t feel compelled to change a word. I’m resolving to let that side of me out a little more often – nothing wrong with being caught by a wave of surprise.
Isabeau on her 18th birthday
Another thing I tend to hold back on is talking about my cat. I’m not fond of the stereotype of single women with their cats so I tend to avoid giving that impression. But… Monday was Isabeau’s 18th birthday- that’s actual years so something like 126 in cat/dog years. I’ve had her since she was six weeks old so it did make me pause and reflect on what she’s seen me through (2 graduate degrees, 4 states, 3 cars, 8 residences, …) When people say that nobody succeeds on their own I think most people are talking about other people which is true enough, but the support of pets shouldn’t be discounted either. Her confidence is me means I can never really lose mine.
How to broaden your perspective by changing just one word
April 28, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Health and Happiness
I can’t take any credit for this one; I recently read it in The Art of Possibility and didn’t think much about it at first. The simple concept suggested using ‘and’ instead of ‘but’ when joining two clauses. It was a brief section in the book and I noted it mildly as I read on. A few days later I started to realize just how often I use the word ‘but’ in a conjunctive sense. For example:
- I want to drive to Alaska, but I also want to see the Greek islands
- I want to make money blogging, but I need to pay the bills now
- I want a loving relationship, but I appreciate some of the things that go with being single
These sound innocent enough except that I really use the word ‘but’ frequently. Ouch. At first I didn’t even think that I’m limiting my options by doing this; more of setting a priority or qualifying the desire until I sat with these sentences having rephrased them with ‘and’ instead:
- I want to drive to Alaska, and I also want to see the Greek islands
- I want to make money blogging, and I need to pay the bills now
- I want a loving relationship, and I appreciate some of the things that go with being single
It doesn’t imply that I can do anything simultaneously or suggest anything impossible. Yet there’s a subtle difference between the two sets of sentences. Maybe there’s a solution out there that involves both Alaska and the Greek islands that I wouldn’t find if I were only looking for one side of the equation. I don’t know yet. What I do know is that the second set seems infinitely more open to possibility and the potential for abundance. It doesn’t deny one thought or desire in favor of the other; it makes them more equal. So while I work on reducing my use of the ‘b’ word, try it for yourself and let me know if it makes a difference for you.
Challenging your perceptions and your limits
March 24, 2009 by Juliet Chase
Filed under Health and Happiness
There’s a subtle concept in psychology that can be paraphrased as there’s no such thing as universal truth. Basically, that everything we process with our brains is done through a series of self-created rules or filters, ‘this means this,’ that we aren’t even conscious of. You may have seen this referred to as framing or cognitive distortion at the negative extreme. The mind knows what it knows – think of the phenomenon of amputees who ‘feel’ the missing limb. His brain and nerves still hold the truth of what was.
It’s impractical to think of going through life questioning every unconscious thought, reaction, or interaction. However, when they hold you back, that’s the time to take out the magnifying glass and re-examine the rules; maybe they’ve changed or maybe they need to.
For more on how to do this, read Move Beyond the Limits That Are Holding You Back on zenhabits
