#BreakThings: All the Juggling

01.29.21

“The key to juggling multiple responsibilities is to remember that some balls are made of plastic, others are made of glass.” — paraphrasing Cokie Roberts

This week was the ultimate lesson in that.

That blog post? Plastic. That revenue estimate? Glass. The housekeeping? Plastic. The bill summary for the vote tomorrow? Glass.

But even when the balls are plastic, I hate dropping them. I’m trying not to spread myself too thin, to prioritize my mental health over my to-do list, but I cannot silence that little voice that says I’m failing.

What a broken system we have for women and work-life balance. We spread ourselves out like water spilled on the floor, reaching as far as we can go without evaporating. And still, it never feels like enough.

My husband never feels guilty about saying no, about passing off a project, about letting a ball drop (plastic or glass). “I did what I could do.”

No one ever taught me, or my mother, or my grandmother that doing what “you can do” was enough. How do we teach girls and young women to be gentler with themselves?

Because after a year of pandemic, an economic collapse that is driving women from the workforce, and centuries of patriarchy, our reserves are depleted.

My commute was how I decompressed. I put on a podcast. I sang along with the radio. In the D.C. days, I processed my thoughts on my walk. Now that many of us are working from home, we’ve lost that quiet time.

Harvard Business Review asks: Where did the commute go? And how do we get it back?

Shape Magazine is pushing hard for strength training. They argue that it’s better for boosting metabolism and reshaping your body than cardio. Don’t believe them? They challenge you to try it for four weeks and compare results.

I love a good organizer or planner. Designworks Inc. has the cutest weekly organizers. They brighten up your desk and keep you on track for the week. They also make a great intern or mentee gift.

The title of this Jezebel article says it all: We Have to Save Books from the Book People. Because sometimes a book doesn’t need to be great literature, it just needs to be enjoyable.

Pregnancy is big business for celebrities and influencers. The #ad requests roll in faster than the Daytona 500 when a person announces they’re pregnant. The New York Times looks at where the money comes from and how pregnancy became big business.

{this post contains affiliate links that keep the newsletter free by generating commission for the author}