We’ve all heard the saying “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.” For the most part this happens to be true. You must take care of the “grass” you have and watch it grow, instead of longing for the fresher grass across the fence. But what if there were times when you should cross the fence and learn a little bit more about your neighbor, your coworker, or your classmate. One thing that has stood out to me when I’ve traveled various places, is the noticeable difference in how I am welcomed or perceived by others, especially women. I am often in new situations, whether it be brandings, moving cattle, or a new job. Therefore, I’m usually the new kid on the block. There have been a few men and women who have taken the time to give me advice or wait patiently as I throw a second loop. But most people don’t necessarily like having someone new and women often see a new face as a threat, instead of a future friend. For some reason, rather than celebrate other women’s accomplishments, we tend to find reasons to dislike them. We feel threatened or that we have to make up excuses not to like each other. Even worse, we do so in our friend groups to justify it. We ALL do this. But what if we chose to cross the fence instead? What if we chose to get to know the strange looking heifer across the fence? We might find that if you get to know her, you may have a little more patience or kindness towards her. We might find that she’s never worked in this job field before or that she’s been working hard to learn to rope this year because she didn’t have the opportunity growing up. That takes a lot of guts right? So maybe simply saying hi in the morning or letting her throw an extra loop in the branding pen might not be so bad. We get a bad reputation sometimes, but if we decided to turn our fear of other women into kindness, imagine the things you could accomplish together or friendships you could create. So if there’s someone new in your town, in your office, or out in a pasture with you, take the time to get to know them. It doesn’t have to be an extremely fuzzy conversation full of compliments. It is great, but if not just be kind, be helpful, and be supportive of other women. If we learned to admire the strengths in on another rather than pointing out the flaws there would be a completely different atmosphere surrounding those we come into contact with. We are far too intelligent and talented to criticize and break down others. We shouldn’t dread work or going to do things in fear of how we will be treated or perceived by other women. We were made differently, we are meant to be different. So why don’t we make different a positive adjective? In a male dominated industry such as agriculture, it’s important to have other women you can look to as role models and allies when you need to talk about things your significant other or family won’t understand. We need to simply be nice and throw judgement in the trash where it belongs. Cross the fence; learn more about the person next to you, rather than what they look like or what their Facebook profile tells you.
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AuthorThis is a blog to share many stories, laughs, adventures and lessons learned by yours truly, Haley Potter. Archives
July 2023
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