I am obsessively curious if there is a real life Karen behind all the memes. Somewhere there is this woman named Karen, Karen Memes perhaps too, and she has been the target of a lot of what not to do messaging through memes based on her own life story. Who is this original Karen because quite honestly I want to meet her. I sincerely hope she is getting paid for hits to her memes. Seriously some of them are quite mean. At times I want to hug Karen, whoever she is, for fumbling through life much like I do myself. She seems like a nice enough person who however lacks any true friends and is just trying to do the best she can some days. I can relate to Karen on a lot of levels through her memes, perhaps that makes me a Karen too?
The first Karen meme I saw was a 3 block comic strip setup calling out this person named Karen for doing something rather dumb; in the creator’s mind at least. This was quickly followed by a slew of Karen memes with everyone jumping on this poor woman’s back for not doing much of anything right it seemed. From being someone who sells products as a distributor to driving slow in the fast lane, it was not the time to name your newborn Karen for sure. This particular name seemed destined for the names least likely to succeed in life based on the memes that kept coming about how much Karen wasn’t liked. Most of us would laugh at these and move on with some small amount of pity for whoever Karen was. I however, stuck around looking for her. The real her because I had questions about how this had come to happen to her.
As I read these, some were funny as in we all do that kind of thing and it was calling us out. Like we all forget the laundry and have to rewash it sometimes right? Surely Karen isn’t the only one who was too tired to do that and just dried and put away her smelly towels. I related to some of these memes because well that is life some days. We all do dumb things at times and it is not so much they are dumb at all. Given the high amount of stress some of us are under every day, mistakes happen and quite simply we cannot keep up with everything so they appear haphazard and even well dumb. If that makes me a Karen well then so be it because I have too many other things on my plate to worry about what someone thinks about my lifestyle. Laundry can always be rewashed.
It really hit home for me when Karen became the target of other memes though related to her work selling products. There was a fresh slaughtering of memes aimed at Karen selling things or doing things in her work that others didn’t agree was right. Here too, Karen was the butt of the joke and living example of what not to do for success. My heart really went out to her because I saw myself and many others being like Karen. Is this what our friends truly thought of us? Wow, were they writing these memes to indirectly tell me I sucked at what I was doing? It started to hit home how much Karen and I needed each other to cover each other’s back.
Maybe Karen was a bit overzealous or doing what someone had guided her on but people were all about hating on her as a result of it. This was most likely not one of those situations where it worked out in her favor and she could sell a ton as a result of the bad press either. As a distributor of products I really felt for Karen and reflected on my business approach for I and a lot of other reps were taught to sell things the way Karen was. Karen wasn’t the only one being hit negatively from these memes in our business. We were all seeing the hit from it and I actually became a little timid about telling people what I did for while as a result. That message was loud and clear from people that this was very unpopular and a double whammy if you were also named Karen.
Reflecting on this I felt like I was back in high school with the cool kids picking on the underdog. Karen was just the latest target getting her books knocked out of her hands and laughed at as she walked down the hallway. She was lonely, friendless and not feeling very sure of herself from all of this bullying. Those who loved her kept telling her she was smart, beautiful, capable and more but we all know after a while that doesn’t counteract the bad things we hear people saying about us. It doesn’t make it hurt less with the constant rejection. I tried to see the constructive side of what these memes were saying about selling products but even I started to have doubts about myself the more I read them. Karen, if you are really a real person, girl, I’m right there with you on these same things. It’s me, I’m a Karen too.
For anyone who sells products as a side business or even full time, we all know there are no shortcuts to success. We work hard for every dollar and sometimes put in way more than we get back. Yes some of us go about it full steam and chase away sales but we learn from that and move one. Most of us are trying to do it right. Most of us are smart, savvy, experienced women who just want something better in our lives than some 9 to 5 crappy career that sucks the life out of us every day. Most of us are not named Karen but we might as well be because we’re just out there doing the best we can with what we have to work with.
My name may not be Karen but I too sell products as a small business owner. In my case, I help people find natural solutions that work for their life and budget. I recommend things to people that I have found works in my own life and that I’m proud to represent in my business as a result. I tell people about what I do and invite them to classes to learn more. It isn’t for everyone and that’s alright. It is for people who are wanting real solutions in their life that don’t result in just the problem being covered up. They are willing to try it because nothing else has worked and it has cost a lot of money with little return.
It won’t work for everyone either to make them a millionaire but not for the reasons you might think. See it takes a Karen who is brave enough to step out there and be herself. It takes guts to sell products and most people don’t have as much as they think they do. Those are the people out there creating memes bullying others for being different. Karen though has it. She doesn’t give up and rises each day the best she can to be persistent and consistent despite the memes that keep coming out about how awful she is. She is someone who has tried everything and is still out there trying and giving her best every day. That’s the type of person I want to hang out with too.
I say it’s time for Karen’s to unite.
If you are a Karen (in name or relatable) and are interested in finding out how you can live naturally well, come talk to me at dragonspitapothecary.com