Why women can have it all
I recently read the article by Anne Marie Slaughter (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-can-8217-t-have-it-all/9020/). I found this article stimulating, fascinating and very in tune with many women these days. When I first read it, I thought ‘YES’ finally someone articulates the issues i had with balancing my career and my desire for a family. For about a week I thought this, I re-read the article and contemplated and came up with the following response.
I would like to say, maybe we women can have it all. I want to redefine all. In my life, I’ve had a serious career that was often all consuming, I’ve traveled around the world, and now I have a husband, a son and am a stay at home mom. I know that some people want to head back to work or never want to leave the office and that is all ok. I would argue though, that some of us do have it all. i have everything I’ve ever dreamed of right now. I feel like I have it all…
If we think of life as a journey where we have different phases and different goals it can change the definition of “having it all”. I loved my career, I was terrified to leave it. I loved serving overseas but I was frightened and nervous about going to multiple war zones. I love my husband and was fairly scared to get married, I just knew I wanted him. I adore my son and I was beyond terrified to become a parent. I have all these things and beginning each new phase of my life was frightening but each phase of my life has been amazing and rewarding. I had times that were hard, things that I’d really really like to not repeat… but it all got me here. I’m always nervous about starting a new phase in life, but it just keeps getting better.
So at the end of the day I would argue, we can have it all. We can have all we want and need in life, it’s just not what we may expect.
