While flying home from Portland last week, I finally watched Good Night and Good Luck. George Clooney originally did this as a film in 2005. He took it to Broadway in 2025. It was then broadcast live on CNN for one night. That broadcast has now been made available as a film.
There was a scene in the film that made me think about how lucky I am to be in this time and place. In the scene, one of only two female actors who are featured (since the play is set in a 1950s era workplace) is essentially asked to get pregnant and start a family so that she would be forced to quit work. This would then ease the burden on the budget and let someone else not be laid off.
I wasn't going to share this here, but then in her March 8 Secrets of Adulthood Newsletter, Gretchen Rubin shared this story:
A while back, my mother had a milestone birthday, so we had a celebration for her. Among other things, we hosted a special family dinner here in New York City, and we each made a toast.
When we were done, my mother stood up to respond. Of what everyone said that night, there's only one part I remember clearly, and that was what she first said when she got to her feet. She said, "I'm lucky, I'm a lucky person. I don't know why I've been lucky, but I have been."
I've been lucky too. I was born when women could own property and could have credit cards. Had I gotten pregnant, I could have continued working, although that law wasn't passed until four years after I was born so I also stand on the shoulders of women like my mom who did have to give up a job when she got pregnant with my sister. I also was born at a time and place where I had equal access to higher education and could not be discriminated against based on my gender to get equal access to a program of study.
I came of age when the internet became a thing and I made a career out of knowing how to use the Internet and technology more effectively. It made me who I am today. For all of its evils, the internet gave me a lifestyle and a life that I love.
Rubin goes on in her newsletter to talk about how luck is a very confusing concept. Saying I'm lucky might make you think I don't also believe in the power of my own hard work. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I think luck is matching opportunity to knowledge, skills, and ability. I think luck is taking advantage of those opportunities and doing the best with them. In that way I have been lucky.
As I continue working on my financial coaching certification (reach out if you'd like free coaching as I am trying to complete my certification and earn my experience hours!), I talk with clients about how they are a product of the times and places that make up their lives. I've realized it can be a good thing to think about and to remember that we're all just little dots on the world's timeline and we have to do the best we can with what we're given.
I wonder, what are you grateful for in the time and place you've been born into or find yourself in today? What might be different if you were born 50 or 500 or 5000 miles different — or even 5 years? Let's chat. Hit reply on this email or if you'd like, come chat with us in Circle using the Let's Chat button below.
