Working Moms: We can have it all…just not at the same time.

Working moms: We can have it all. Just not at the same time. (Pictured here: me doing my hair before a big meeting, but also being a mom).
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I once heard Julie Rice (co-founder of Soul Cycle) answer the question of “How do you do it all?” with something along the lines of “I don’t.” To paraphrase, she said that some weeks she was a badass at work. Some weeks she took her foot off the pedal at work and spent more time with her kids because they needed her.

I also recently heard that of the following 5 things, we can only do 3 exceptionally at a time: Family, work, friendships, working out, and getting enough sleep. And that’s ok. For most of us, I think we try to keep family in the top 3 all the time. But, realistically, our top 3 will shift from day to day and week to week.

Some weeks we’ll be ballers at work and working out, but won’t see our friends at all. Other weeks we may date our spouse and see our friends, but not be as strong at work. It’s ok for it to ebb and flow. It’s ok to be balanced and lopsided all at the same time.

Life is all about expectations. And I think the media (and social media) give us the expectation that we should be able do all of these things exceptionally all the time. And, that’s BS. No one has it all together all the time. We can thrive at all of them. Just not at the same time. And once you accept that truth, you can get rid of the expectations to have it all, and instead enjoy ALL that you have.