AUTHOR LINDSAY DETWILER
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • About
  • Contact
  • READ FREE!
  • The Dark Side
Contemporary Romance Author

To Every Woman Struggling To Be Perfect

9/8/2016

0 Comments

 
Perfect women
​There are so many different versions of you, none superior to the rest.

You are the elementary teacher trying to juggle grad school, a family, and work.

You are the stay-at-home mom trying to get the semi-healthy meal on the table while helping with homework, tackling the growing pile of laundry, and finding time to just be you.

You are the single 20something trying to climb to corporate ladder, pay off student loans, and balance your version of happiness.

You are the traveler, trying to make the most out of every moment of life while staying in touch with those who matter most.

Married or single, looking for love or looking to stay away from it. 

Twenty, Thirty, Fifty, or Eighty.

Huge family or no kids in your future.

Entrepreneur or jobless, climbing the career ladder or trying to just cling to the rung you’re on.

Whoever you are, whatever life you’re leaving, there’s one thing you all have in common
.
You’re struggling to do it all, to balance it all, and to keep your head above water.

You’re exhausted, you’re feeling overwhelmed, and you’re feeling like you don’t know how you can keep going. You feel like you’re failing because no matter what you’re juggling in your life, it feels impossible to keep up with it all.

I’ve seen so many female acquaintances, close friends, and even strangers battling the incessant cycle of trying to be perfect while trying to do too much. As women in 2016, we face so much pressure, no matter what our circumstances are. We are told we are strong and capable. We are told we can have it all―we can have any combination of relationships, careers, families, hobbies, and values we want to pursue.

But few people stop to recognize that having it all sometimes equates to a seemingly impossible race toward a constantly moving finish line.

Doing it all, having it all―it’s hard work, no matter what your life looks like.

We are all trying to balance an ever-changing equation of families, jobs, friendships, love, happiness, and health. There are always to-do lists that seem to grow exponentially every single day. 

On top of that, there’s the fear of failure.

Couple all of that with pressure from society to “keep smiling” because modern women should be nothing but strong and capable, and many of us are just waiting to crack.

I’ve seen friends in tears over perceived failures at balancing family and work. I’ve seen so many women panicking because their house isn’t perfectly clean or because they put a frozen pizza on the table for dinner. I’ve seen women struggling with feeling like inadequate employees, wives, mothers, or friends. So many of us are holding ourselves to these impossible standards. We worry so much about being everything for everyone else that we lose sight of our own needs.

We not only want to do it all―we want to do it all to a level of perfection. This level of perfection, though, often leads to feelings of inadequacy when we realize we can’t achieve it simultaneously in every aspect of life.

I am happy to be living in 2016 where women can do it all, where we have the choice to pursue families and careers if we want to. 

Still, I sometimes worry that we’re holding ourselves to impossible standards and setting ourselves up to feel like failures. 

So to the women trying to do it all, I say: Cut yourself some slack.

It doesn’t matter if there’s a coffee stain on your shirt or if the dishes are piled to the ceiling. It’s fine if your husband’s khakis aren’t perfectly pressed or if your eyeliner isn’t just quite right. It’s okay if family game night ended up in tears and a tossed Monopoly board or if sometimes dinner comes in a paper sack from a fast food restaurant. It’s fine if the sweeper hasn’t been run since last week or if it took a few days for you to get to that paper on your desk at work.

You’re not perfect, but you don’t have to be... because none of us are.

Don’t let the pressure of doing it all, of being everything for everyone, cut off your chance at being happy. Don’t let doing it all suck the joy out of every aspect of your life. Instead, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Don’t be afraid to step back and re-evaluate what really matters most, even if society doesn’t agree with your opinion.

Most of all, don’t be afraid to say “screw perfection.” Take comfort in the fact that everyone who is trying to do it all struggles sometimes. Just keep doing your best and focusing on the things that matter most to you, no matter what that looks like.
Lindsay Detwiler
Lindsay Detwiler is a high school English teacher and a contemporary romance author. Visit her on Facebook to learn more.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Banners for Best Romance Book Blogs
    Author Lindsay Detwiler
    Picture
    *As an Amazon Affiliate, I get a small fee for any books purchased through the links below.
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Then Comes Love
    Who We Were Romantic Comedy
    Where Love Went
    Where Love Went Free Read Holiday
    To Say Goodbye
    Picture
    Remember When Lindsay Detwiler

    Archives

    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All
    Aging
    Am Reading
    Animal
    Animals
    Animal Testing
    Author
    Author Chat
    Authors
    Bark Box
    Beach
    Beauty
    Beauty Blog
    Beauty Box
    Beauty Review
    Body Image
    Book
    Book Blog
    Book Review
    Books
    Book Sale
    Bookworm
    Box
    Caregiving
    Cat
    Chick Books
    Chick Lit
    Childfree
    Childless
    Children
    Classics
    Clothes
    Contemporary Romance
    Contest
    Cook
    Cosmetics
    Creative
    Creative Writing
    Cruelty Free
    Dad
    Dating
    Divorce
    Dog
    Dogs
    Dream
    Dreams
    Empowerment
    Facebook Live
    Family
    Fashion
    Father's Day
    Fear
    Female Writers
    Fiction
    Free
    Free Book
    Free Reads
    Friendship
    Fulfillment
    Funny
    Gaming
    Giveaway
    Good Books
    Graduation
    Growing Up
    Hair
    Holocaust
    Inspire
    Keith Urban
    Kindness
    Life
    Literary
    Literature
    Live Show
    Love
    Lularoe
    Makeup
    Maplewood
    Marriage
    Mastiff
    Modern Love
    Mom
    Mood Boosters
    Mother
    Mothering
    Mother's Day
    Movie
    Movie Review
    Must Read
    Netflix
    New Author
    New Release
    Organization
    Parents
    Pets
    Phobia
    Pieces Of My Heart
    Poet
    Poetry
    Prize
    Prizes
    Reading
    Refresh
    Relationships
    Review
    Reviews
    Romance
    Romantic Comedy
    Sale
    Self Care
    September 11th
    Show
    Simple Living
    Simply Love
    Stitch Fix
    Story
    Style
    Summer
    Sweet
    Sweet Romance
    Tattoo
    Teacher
    Teaching
    Tech
    Teenagers
    Television
    Thankful
    Thirty
    Tidying
    Valentine's Day
    Vegan
    Wedding
    Win
    Winter Blahs
    Woman
    Women
    Women's Fiction
    Writer
    Writing
    Young Adult

    RSS Feed

Lindsay Detwiler

  About
Contact
Hot Tree Publishing

Disclosure: 
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

This site is also a part of the Intellinfluence Program, where we receive free products and payment for posting about certain products.

We are also a participant in the Stitch Fix Influencer program, in which we receive fees when you click on the Stitch Fix advertisement. I am also a part of the Jane.com Affiliate program through ShareASale and earn fees when you purchase using the affiliate links.



​**This website uses Google Analytics to improve user experiences. We also use Adsense to create revenue and Amazon Affiliates.

Privacy Policy
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • About
  • Contact
  • READ FREE!
  • The Dark Side