Can you have it all?

I've had a super busy fantastic weekend teaching, working, networking and hen partying! Yesterday I met with the "wonderful women minding their own business" (#wwmoob) ladies, for our monthly get together. It prompted me to think of the post I meant to write after meeting them all last month for the first time.
As women we celebrate our multi tasking skills, we rejoice that we can now have a career, raise a family and still be a good best friend. What I wonder though, is are we asking too much of ourselves? Should we really want to have it all, is this actually possible?

Hmm.... food for thought.

At yesterday's lunch a large cheer erupted when one of the ladies announced that she had given notice on the job that no longer inspired her, to follow her dream and develop her own magazine. Several other ladies have also recently taken redundancy, or quit jobs to follow the dream of a life they want. Is this fool hardy or wise? I am a great believer that if something really makes you unhappy then don't do it, but is this unwise? Obviously we all have bills to pay, so following a pipe dream can leave you financially vulnerable- but can trying to have it all, leave you having nothing you really want?

I have a fulltime job, and I run a small business. How do I manage this? To be brutally honest I work a lot of hours, get little sleep, no days off,  I have no time for myself and rarely see my friends or family. Is it worth the sacrifice? Honestly I don't know. I do know however that I don't have it all, my work/life balance is askew and all the fun stuff gets squeezed out. Having a fulltime job gives me financial security whilst building a new business. It does however give me something to hide behind, and holds me back from really building my business. With financial security you can become complacent, lack of money is a great motivator. Being too busy means it's hard to live in the moment, to stop and smell the roses sometimes. When over committed it's so easy to over-spend on food on the run, and the service industries, so how is that helping to make more money?

I've been inspired recently by a returning student. Between classes she had given up being a head teacher to go part-time and really live her life. She now bakes, cleans her own house and gets to see her family and friends. She doesn't make as much money, but feels richer for the fuller life she's living and the lack of stress.

So can we have it all? Sadly I don't believe we can, but I do think we can choose what we really want in life and make that our priority.

Here's to living the 'slow' life, and loving the life we lead.