How YOU Can Have it ALL

If you’re like me, you’ve at times felt guilty for stepping off the conventional fast-paced career path so you could devote a larger portion of your time being the primary caregiver for your children.

After all, our mothers and grandmothers fought tirelessly to break the barriers and create a world where girls could go to college, grad school – become partners in top law firms, tenured professors at top universities, CEO’s of major corporations.

And now we’re celebrating a record high 20 women elected to the United States Senate after last week’s election.  Amazing, right!?!

But – does seeing other women’s successes sometimes make you feel less-than?

Ever seem like some women have totally nailed “having it all” – clean house and all, while you’re just hoping to get to the gym and the grocery store to call the day a success?

I have news for you.

You can have it all too.

And there’s a good chance you already do, but you’re caught up comparison-tripping.

Rather than recognizing that your own life reflects what matters to YOU, have you been guilty of comparing your life to someone else’s?  This is a losing game, no matter who you are, what you do, or what you have.

And if your own life doesn’t reflect what matters to you, it may be time to make some changes.

The key is in defining what ALL means for you.

What do you most VALUE?

How do you want to FEEL?

What are your PRIORITIES?

Does your time spent reflect your priorities?

There is no universal meaning of ALL.

Look at the amazing Oprah.  Can she have it “ALL” even though she has no children?  Of course!

How about Hillary.  Can she have it “ALL” while being the most traveled Secretary of State in U.S. history, logging well over 350 days on the road, and thus inevitably missing out on stuff going on with family and friends?  Of course!

What about Savannah Guthrie?  She’s the uber-smart recent addition to the weekday cast of the Today Show.  A super plum job for a journalist, right?  But she has to get up at an ungodly hour every morning.  Not part of my ALL, but I bet she doesn’t mind it, since she’s doing what she’s passionate about.  What she’s got natural talent for.  What she loves to do.  Just like Oprah, and Hillary, and countless others.

Let go of this amorphous idea that you should seek to have it all.

Instead focus on what ALL means for you.

What do you most VALUE?

How do you want to FEEL?

What are your PRIORITIES?

Answer these questions.

Paint a clear picture in your mind, and write down what you see in the picture.

Remember, there’s no better way to feel like you HAVE it all than when you GIVE it your all.

So take meaningful action in sync with what YOU want.  Your ALL.