The Myth of Doing It All

This time of year always leaves me with a feeling that time is running out.

We are in the darkest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The daylight hours are waning, and the calendar year is coming to a close.

The list of things I haven’t done this year that I wanted to do looms large. Intentions set but never manifested. Plans made but never put into motion. It leaves me feeling heavy and depressed. Opportunities wasted.

It always seems like other people can accomplish so much more. Maybe they can. Maybe they do.

Maybe they have better accountability structures, coaches who actually hold them to their plans. Maybe they have more resources, or live in environments that support their work. Maybe they have more energy or better systems. Maybe they have more support to get things done.

Many people brag about what they get done. But what they don’t show you are the people behind the scenes, helping them. Even if all you have is someone to come home to at night who holds space for you to unload your day, you have a support system.

Many of those people who seem to do it all have someone in the wings, someone doing their laundry, or grocery shopping, cooking, or cleaning. Someone to make calls, handle the administrative work, the minutiae of living.

So if you don’t have someone behind the scenes to do these things, and you’re feeling bad as you scroll your feeds and see what other people have accomplished, keep in mind that most people don’t show you the behind the scenes support they have.

Nobody does it all, and nobody does it all alone.

gift yourself some grace
set realistic standards
no one does it all