Pressure

Once and for all, stop being so hard on yourself.

Robin Sharma


I think I put alot of pressure on myself. I'm sure we all do. We heap so many pressures on ourselves - to be brilliant parents, partners and friends, to excel at work and in everything we do. Our society sets us up to strive for perfection and to settle for nothing less than giving 100% of ourselves. But we are all just human. I'm not saying we shouldn't aim high, but we should also give ourselves a break once in a while, sit back and look at what we're trying to achieve objectively and say 'Okay, I've done the best I can with this. Now it's time to let go.'

Here's an example in my own experience: over the past few years I have built up my own personal pressure as a parent by allowing Maya to watch very little television (or, in our case, dvd's and videos through youtube on the laptop) and definititely not in the middle of the day. The reason for this is not any great aversion to television, but rather that I feel instead of Maya spending time in front of a screen, I ought to be doing all kinds of wonderful activities with her: crafts, drawing, reading, muscial and nature activities. Now, I stand by this to an extent BUT retrospectively, I see that in my stubborness I was making life pretty hard for myself. Why do I do this? I'm not wonderwoman, I can't be the 'perfect' mother. Nobody can.

The other day when I'd had a bad night, I decided that no, I was not going to slog through an hour or so with her at lunchtime when Lily was asleep, pretending that she and I were enjoying whatever activity I'd thought of. Instead, I put a dvd on for her, made myself a drink and sat down at the table to enjoy my beloved Mslexia magazine. It was brilliant. It was just what I needed to help me feel able to face the afternoon. I also opened Robin Sharma's Daily Inspiration book and for that particular day, these are the words I read: 'Once and for all, stop being so hard on yourself.' It couldn't have come at a better time.