Women can have it all in a way that does not mean being overwhelmed, overworked and stealing time from one thing for another. Women having it all will happen when women begin to imagine a new way for themselves. Right now we try to fit “having it all” into a male career model in much the same way women used to try to squeeze into girdles so we looked good to men. We do not fit but others think it looks good. We call this an attempt at work-life balance as if there are two sides of us that are in competition and we have to resolve. I do not believe in work-life balance. I believe we need a whole new vision for ourselves.
There are no barriers to our dream of having it all. We simply have the wrong dream. Our dream will not work when it begins with the current model for professional career and family. We have to step back from and pull our energy out of these old concepts and begin a new vision. If the current rules about career did not exist and you could create it however you wanted, what would you imagine? Begin here. Imagine this. The more women begin to imagine a new life model that includes all aspects of who we are the sooner it will happen.
We cannot fit into the current model. I tried. You tried. We fit into it like a girdle. We did it. We looked good. We smiled but could not wait to get out because it was not real and we were not completely comfortable. Something did not fit.
The recent article by Anne Marie Slaughter, Women Can’t Have It All in The Atlantic, opened the floodgates because she said what we all know it true. Something has to change. That change begins when we imagine a new way, a way to have a life that includes all who we are a wife, mother, career women,etc. plus or minus these and other options. We choose. This will be hard because we are so programmed about how we should be that our first challenge is to get out of the current thinking. This is not easy but it is essential.
Take the time to meditate on this.
- Quiet your body and clear your mind.
- Become aware of all your thoughts about how it should be and release these concepts
- Find your fears. Let go of some and accept others without letting them stop you
- Find the limits that you believe and let them go
- Open to your intuition and imagine a new canvas for your life
- What would be your grandest vision for yourself
- Clear the thoughts, emotions and programming that compete with this vision
- See the vision for your life having it all in a new way, a way that feels right to you – without compromise
As each and every woman or at least a growing number of women begin to share a new vision it will begin to manifest. We cannot expect men to create this for us or make it possible. We have to see and hold this vision and make decisions that support this vision of success. Gradually we will see the culture of business changing as our vision begins to take hold. Everything will change.
This is the millennium of the feminine and a time for women to be the change we desire. Talk to each other. Challenge each other until we deprogram the concepts about how it should be and find clarity in a new way of being and having it all. One that comes from a deep understanding of who we are and what we value.
Best wishes on your success, Kay