Having It All Isn’t All That

“Having it all” is a tempting concept for working moms. It implies that we can have balance in our lives, suggesting it will be easy to enjoy all that our lives encompass. I suggest the phrase “having it all” appeals to those of us who have struggled with perfectionism for a long time. It is a ubiquitous thought as we go through our days trying to accomplish all the small and large demands in front of us.  Perhaps it’s just half a phrase, the entire phrase being “having it all, except peace of mind.”

The truth about having it all is that you have to be a multi-tasker. You end up juggling with too many balls in the air. At any given point you are focusing on the ball that is most likely to miss your agile grasp. To translate this in circumstantial terms, imagine that you have an important meeting coming up at work. Add to that an early publishing party in your child’s class. Plus, you have to complete employee reviews this week. And, every day you have to check homework, talk to your children about the struggles in the school yard, make sure the babysitter has all the play date information, check the household spending account so you can buy birthday gifts for your child’s friends and have more that enough for miscellaneous purchases. And, that’s just this week.

On a daily basis, you get your children to school, a little early so that you can get to work just in time not to be too late. You never know when the phone will ring to let you know the babysitter can’t come so that you have to make alternate plans. Or, your child is sick and you have to pick her up just when you’re supposed to meet a new client. Then, when at home, you’re fearful the phone will ring with an extra project you hadn’t expected to handle, or your boss letting you know you dropped the ball on some arbitrary communication. Of course, more is going on both at home and at the office, but the list could go on forever.