I want to be “That Girl.”
That girl who wakes up like Barbie. She has a great routine and aces all her courses. Her drip is fire. Her circle, close. She eats clean and drinks enough water. She checks in on all her family and friends, cooks great meals, is a career baddie, and adjusts to changing routines on a dime.
She is the working woman’s ideal! Gorgeous, Brilliant, and Put-Together.
Ever since I was little, I wanted to balance all of these tasks effortlessly and with grace. I wanted to make life look easy. But, it’s not easy.
And things are not the same as they used to be.
The average college woman, today, is working at least a part-time job, is a full-time student, has some amount of student debt, and is involved in extra-circulars to help land a great job after graduation.
In fact, most college women are doing more.Way more!
Many women (including myself, obv.) feel overwhelmed by the demands put on us.
To those feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and restless about the ticking-time clock and scrambling to find the 13th hour to cook, clean, stay socially engaged, academically motivated, hydrated, and moisturized, this article is a comforting solace to you.
Have you ever felt like you always need to Be busy doing something?
Always productive, progressing, and advancing. If you are not improving or gaining momentum, then what?
All your fears of inadequacy start to eat you alive. Just for standing still.
It is a-o-k to take things slower and still be a career baddie, hang with your friends, and spend quality time taking care of yourself. The answer is not prioritizing, making another to do list, changing majors, or putting more on your plate. In fact, take away the plate. You don’t need it.
You do not need to be this made up version of perfection, idealism, and feminine.
You are allowed to be yourself. Be your raw self. Broken. Crying. Ugly. Completely your own. Because showing your human-ness is progressing.
It is advancement and a productive use of your time. Let’s change the narrative that time is finite. There are no rules to life. We get to make them up as we go and the beauty of that is you wield the power to be imperfect, overwhelmed, and fully human.
There is nothing wrong with you for feeling a large amount of urgency. With everything going on in the world, in our lives as Gen Z, and the demands of the uncertain economy, I give you full permission to let go and give yourself grace.
Everything you aspire to be— advancing, progressing, productive, etc.— you already are doing.
Look at it from a bird’s eye view. There is no timeline. There is no right or wrong path. You are allowed to not know how to do things. You are allowed to be a beginner. You are allowed to just be.
I know this sounds like a broken record and I will get off my soap box, but remember, being productive is not always productive. And it might just be eating at your self-confidence. And that’s not productive.
