Pulling It Off

The commercial came on. A harried, but put together mother holds beautiful cupcakes and walks into a room with excited kids.

"Pam helps you pull it off," says the slogan.

I think this is what a lot of people long for. To look like they have pulled it off. Be harried and hurried, but still manage to get it all done to the praise of adoring fans.

How about we quit trying to look like we are pulling it off?

How about being honest with one another that we don’t have it all together? Wouldn’t we have more time if we took off the masks and pretenses?

As a simplicity coach, I get to hear the behind the scenes. And let me tell you – no one has it all together. Even if they look like it from the outside. In fact perfection outside, is often the sign of inner worlds falling apart trying to keep up. Clients tend to think that no one’s lives are as big of a mess as their life is.

So if you think this – trust me, you aren’t alone.

We still have the idea of the perfect home with Donna Reed, while many of us are working, or pulled in lots of directions, or doing single parenthood. Our lives are different. We can’t have the same expectations of ourselves and others as our grandparents did.

Worse yet I think expectations have gotten worse. We can no longer have simple birthday parties, they have to be extravaganza’s. You can no longer look like you are aging. You need to be uber successful in all areas of your life.

We can learn different techniques to simplify things, but perfection and looking like you are pulling it off is a sad expectation to put on yourself.

Wouldn’t you love to be able to share the real, authentic you with others?

Even in my line of work, things don’t always run smoothly. I have a load of laundry on the living room chair, I’ve only cooked once this week and my desk is trashed again. So I’ll catch up on laundry, do some cooking and clean up my desk this weekend. And I am sure by next Friday something else is going to be off kilter.

With complicated lives it’s almost impossible to have everything going well at once. And that’s ok. Do what you can, but don’t push yourself for show.

Maybe someone out there really has it all together and can share their secret. But, in the meantime I’d love to hear from real, authentic people.

***

Photo by Clever Cupcakes