Last week a young lady told me that her job was to teach women how to have it “All.” My immediate response was, “Are you serious?”
Of course she was quite young. She will learn the realities of having it all as she gets older.
I have interviewed many women over the years and they all said the same thing, “You can have it all; you just can’t have it “All” at the same time.”
You never hear a man saying that he wants to have it all. For some reason the push to have it all has been a goal that many women have unfortunately used as a barometer for success.
Tell us how you measure your own success.
Thanks Kirsten, That will be a new story that I will write, “In search of “ALL”
Oh yes..the infamous having it all phrase. What bothers me is that I have done it all…somewhat successfully…not perfectly. I had to do it …because of my own personal circumstances. What is irritiating to me…if you do not work outside the home, have a business, profession, etc…your time ECONOMICALLY is not counted. One you do not accumulate any social security or pension for staying home, raising the family, taking care of community needs, parental needs…it is not seen as valuable…which is in my Mom’s favorite expression “bullpuckety”. The job of family and community deserves to be treated with respect and money. Women sacrifice all the time..and are given a pat on the head..and few nice words at election time…but no financial credit. So if we do not want to be indigent in our old age and dependent upon society we have to work…unless you are the fortunate few who has her own trust fund etc…its off to work we go!
I feel that having it “All” can be applied to us as women individually. I think “Having it All” can be an expression someone being content and feeling blessed overall. If a woman has several of her dreams fulfilled, can wake up happy most days, and is able to focus on counting her blessings for the most part, rather than counting the things that are going wrong everday…then yeah, she may think and can say with confidence that she does in fact “Have it all” in her world!
That whole have it “All” thing has always bothered me. Why do we women put so much stress on ourselves. And what is this infamous “All” anyway?