We Can {Not} Have It All

We sat there in her perfectly coiffed home, talking business and kiddos and then she asked, “How do you do it all?”

What? Me? Seriously?

After silencing the laughing in my head, I told her this:  “I don’t do it all. I do ENOUGH.”

Feminists may roll their eyes at me, but after years of being a working mom, I’ve learned one thing:  we CAN’T HAVE IT ALL.

1888_0779-as-Smart-Object-1-2-1024x682There just aren’t enough hours in the day.

I spend most of my life frantically running.

I run to work, I run across town to pick the boys up from school, I run to the grocery store and I literally run {for fun}.

I fail sometimes. Take for example this week, I’ve been running around {at the last minute} planning a birthday party for my eldest. Due to work deadlines and life in general, I literally thought I had one more week. So, what does a crazed mom do? She compromises, opting for email invites and phone calls instead of a cute handmade one. We have our party at a public place instead of cleaning and decorating our home.

In the end, we will celebrate and there will be cake {which makes everything better}.

So, that’s how I have it all.

I find the things in life that are important to me, like fitness, writing, family-time and growing and learning. House cleaning, laundry and grocery shopping, well those need to be done, but I’m not going to go nuts about it.

Having it all and finding balance is unattainable. It’s hard to equalize the scales of life.  One minute work will be going well, and at the same time your home life is a raging chaos, or vice versa. It’s like walking a tight rope every day, and personally I don’t need the added pressure.

Instead, I’ve embraced HARMONY.

A give and take.

I let certain things go, and there will be weeks when we eat macaroni and frozen pizzas in exchange for more playtime outside, or because I have to work late.

This is my Harmony.

Want to find yours?

Here are some questions to ask yourself…

Staying-on-Task-for-Women

 

(Questions courtesy of Amy Volk, speaker, author and owner of Simplified Living)

The key is to remember the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, it’s just greener where it’s watered.

So instead of trying to have it all, try to find YOUR harmony in the chaos for that is what will make your heart sing.

Brook
Brook {without the "e"} is a spunky faux redhead and former UI grad who has decided to call Iowa City her home for over 10 years. She met her husband on the internet, and they spend their days playing superheroes with their two boys, Edison (2007) and Grant (2010). She juggles mom life with a full-time job as a marketing consultant, competing in triathlons and writing her heart out on her personal blog www.redheadreverie.com. She believes life is a journey, not a destination.

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