Of course there is!

But it's not just there for women. And it's not just on the 'net. It's everywhere for everybody who decides to accept someone else's limits, or who are adept at imposing limits on themselves.

Maybe it's not so much a glass ceiling as it is a dark wall, circumscribed by the extent of our vision.

What we accomplish - any of us - is a reflection of the extent to which we have accepted 'no' and 'can't' and 'shouldn't,' and the degree of fear we've derived from imagined consequences of achieving our desires. As if happiness necessarily mandates an equal measure of misery, we tacitly say 'pass' to a full measure of happiness, lest we get the equal measure of pain.

Expressed positively, what we accomplish is a reflection of the degree to which we allow ourselves to have joy.

In the hour a day I've given myself to write just for my own pleasure, nothing short of the ceiling falling in could deprive me of it. And if the ceiling didn't happen to hit the computer and keyboard, or smack me on the head, I'd probably still keep going until my hour was up ('specially if it wasn't raining).

Every problem I have is still there during that time. Every doubtful thought about any value my writing has, everything that is outside the actual experience of writing, stays there, outside, until my hour is up.

The interesting thing is that I really find myself paying attention to what's true for me. And while re-reading that last paragraph, I discovered that that power to just TAKE the time is there for me to used on ANYTHING. Take any task, find the joy in it for me personally, give it a time, and honor the time commitment.

But back to the glass ceiling, I must say that to acknowledge it is to assign power to someone else to decide just who I am, and can become.

The last two lines of a poem I wrote a long time ago pretty well sum it up. (Interestingly, I had the last two lines long before I knew there'd be a poem.)

Those lines:

For just as I must cope with the world,
So the world must cope with me.

Mary

Hi Marye

An inspiring post and quote from your poem:

For just as I must cope with the world,
So the world must cope with me.

All of the posts in this thread highlight the importance of positive thinking and self confidence no matter what circumstances get in our way, whether it be bigotry, predudice or racisism.

As a person who has not been on the receiving end of any of these disgraceful attitudes I sincerely admire anybody who can maintain this kind of positive attitude.

However, glass ceilings in certain quarters are a sad reality no matter how much positive thinking a person tries to adopt.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines the term Glass Ceiling in this way:

"An unacknowledged barrier to personal advancement."

Thankfully it doesn't seem to be an issue within our corner of the Internet as most people do seem to get recognised according to their merit and regardless of their gender..

However if somebody does have experience of this then it should be stamped out immediatley.

Thanks to all for an encouraging thread and display of courage and determination.

Andrew Laing