Maybe when I'm older (in my career) I'll be Mrs. Electrician, but for now I am surely a Miss!! Every day I am reminded of all that I don't know. This trade is so multi faceted, it can make your head spin. Add to that how much of a "girly" girl I really am, and you have the hardest thing I've EVER done in my life. It's crazy!!
I only have a year in the trade, so I have yet to work with somebody greener than me, and I am anxious to compare. I feel like such a fish out of water. I have always just tackled and accomplished everything I wanted to master in a short amount of time. This is a 5 year process, and even then, there is more to learn. I can't help but wonder if I will ever measure up? Will I ever be strong enough, fast enough, mechanically inclined enough?
Being an apprentice is a challenge in itself. Doing it at my age, even more so. I have days I feel so accomplished, and on top of the world. Other days, not so much. Some journeymen are always there to teach, and love to share their knowledge. Others only want to belittle you, brow beat you, and pay you back for things done to them as apprentices. And being the only woman among these men, makes for a whole other path to navigate.
I know I am a full grown woman, not a child. I am a 36 year old mother, raising a family, keeping up a household, successfully balancing an entire world on my shoulders. Don't treat me like I am a child, like I am less of a human than you, belittle me just to assert you power, that is the part of the whole apprentice-journeyman relationship I have issues with.
Every day I hope to learn something new, that is my goal. I look for new knowledge, in all aspects of my life. I am here on this planet to learn, and this trade is no different. I want to learn, I truly do. Even if it means I have to dig a ditch to do it (hey... no gym membership needed!!), some days I just wish the path was a little easier.
I only have a year in the trade, so I have yet to work with somebody greener than me, and I am anxious to compare. I feel like such a fish out of water. I have always just tackled and accomplished everything I wanted to master in a short amount of time. This is a 5 year process, and even then, there is more to learn. I can't help but wonder if I will ever measure up? Will I ever be strong enough, fast enough, mechanically inclined enough?
Being an apprentice is a challenge in itself. Doing it at my age, even more so. I have days I feel so accomplished, and on top of the world. Other days, not so much. Some journeymen are always there to teach, and love to share their knowledge. Others only want to belittle you, brow beat you, and pay you back for things done to them as apprentices. And being the only woman among these men, makes for a whole other path to navigate.
I know I am a full grown woman, not a child. I am a 36 year old mother, raising a family, keeping up a household, successfully balancing an entire world on my shoulders. Don't treat me like I am a child, like I am less of a human than you, belittle me just to assert you power, that is the part of the whole apprentice-journeyman relationship I have issues with.
Every day I hope to learn something new, that is my goal. I look for new knowledge, in all aspects of my life. I am here on this planet to learn, and this trade is no different. I want to learn, I truly do. Even if it means I have to dig a ditch to do it (hey... no gym membership needed!!), some days I just wish the path was a little easier.
