Letting go of perfection

When I was an older teenager and in my early twenties, one of my favorite things to do was to sit and talk with my grandmother and my great aunt Nettie. I loved to hear about their lives when they were young and they loved to hear about what was going on in my life. They both marveled at the career opportunities I had available to me, as a young woman, that they did not have when they were young. I always thought how lucky I was in comparison. After having children and trying to juggle motherhood and marriage and a career, all at the same time, I began to think that they had been the lucky ones. They didn’t have the pressure to perform or to succeed or to be able to prepare a 5 course Martha Stewart quality meal while managing a high stress career and at the same time trying to raise National merit scholars.

The problem isn’t that we as women can’t do all the things and be all the things. The problem isn’t even that we can’t do all the things and be all the things all at the same time. The problem is that we expect to do that and to do all of them perfectly. All at the same time. And nobody is capable of that.

There are days that I am an extraordinary lawyer. And there are days that I am an extraordinary mother. There are even those days where I’m a pretty amazing wife. But those days aren’t every day and they are almost never the same day. And that’s okay. Because I’m doing the best I can. And on days when I feel like my best wasn’t good enough, there’s always tomorrow.

Grant yourself some grace, friends. And let’s grant that same grace to each other.