Women Today Need Emancipation from Liberation

 It seems to me that when women got liberated they just ended up with more to do. Most of us start out being enthusiastic and driven in our careers. We try to be super moms with super kids, end up with super mortgages along with super car and credit card payments. A lot of us throw “nice” into the mix and, before we know it, we’re saying “yes” to all kinds of things we have no business trying to cram into our schedules. So we race around, harried and irritable, unsuccessfully trying to please everyone and absolutely abusing ourselves.

For anyone in her twenties who might be reading this, I have a crystal ball alert. Keep it up and, in your forties, you will be homicidally OVER IT!! Those perfect children you hastily tried to mold into sports legends, MENSA candidates, and concert pianists? The jails and cemeteries are full of them. The adoring husband? He’s lived to believe he’s as perfect as you thought he was when you placed him on that pedestal and, in the more realistic version of the fairytale, there just isn’t a ”cap” powerful enough for the kind of obliteration you’re after.

Let’s not forget the boss you so desperately wanted to recognize your loyalty and achievements. Oh, he recognized them alright. That’s why you’re still right where you were, making the same salary you were so grateful to get twenty years before. Welcome to the bitter end. But it doesn’t have to be. There is, there always is, a solution. And it’s never too late to implement it.

First of all, reevaluate. Reintroduce yourself to yourself. Get back to basics and realize that if you have to keep up with your friends, they aren’t your friends. In other words, “To thine own self be true.” Otherwise, misery is inevitable.

Many of us have spent so much time being who we think others want us to be or what we should be that we end up completely at odds with ourselves. And when the plan we forced falls apart, we’re left frustrated, scared and, usually, alone. That’s a bad place to be, ladies. And when you’re there, the life you struggled to build looks like one big, fat lie.

So, wherever you are in your journey, STOP! Think about what you want and slow down while you move toward it. We’re humans, not machines. We’re not meant to go through life in a total frenzy and miss all the things our Creator intended for us to see along the path.

If you’re in debt get out. It’s easier than you think. Downsize and eliminate wherever possible. Get to know the closeout stores and buy only what you need. When you start doing that, you’ll be amazed at how much you don’t need. Impulse buying is your loss and Visa’s gain.

Let the kids be kids. The basics are way better for them too. If they aren’t passionate about an activity homework, reading, a few chores and some time outside are plenty to fill their time away from school. They WILL develop without frantic parental input. In fact, they’ll develop in much healthier ways. If there are activities they love, let them pick one and encourage them to make the most of that along with schoolwork, hobbies, etc.

The key here is slowing down. Breathe, relax and connect with the picture that is so much greater than you, me and our elaborate plans. There truly is a force guiding us. When we egotistically try to overtake it and bend things around to suit ourselves, all bets for harmony are off. The perfect design becomes flawed.

So wherever you are today, whatever your age or circumstances, allow yourself to stop and take inventory. Most likely it’s not that you don’t have enough. It’s that you have too much.