What is "Having It All?"

Many of you have heard about the July/August 2012 article in The Atlantic entitled, “Women Still Can’t Have It All.” Anne-Marie Slaughter has a great point. Women can’t have the perfect home, perfect kids, be the perfect mother and have the perfect career. However, neither can men. Idealism aside, all of that is just plain hard work. It is possible to greatly enjoy your career, work hard to make things happen in your life and have a family. The key is to understand which is most important at any given moment.

This is the eternal struggle of work-life balance. And women, we don’t have the market cornered on juggling life’s demands. These days, life is less like a “Mad Men” episode (I know this because I don’t have a mini-bar in my office and no one is smoking inside) and more like an episode of “Wipe Out.” Especially within bi-nuclear families, men and women alike take more responsibility for the home, the family and everything in between. This leaves us dodging and weaving our way through obstacles. Launching ourselves into slippery situations and sometimes ending up stuck in the mud. But at the end we reach the finish line, look back and think, “I did the best I could, and my family turned out all right.”

I see it myself in real-time. Making the decision by asking myself, “Which is more important at this time?” Do I spend time with the family or workout? Do I take the extra work time or do I have a date night? Life is full of push/pull. Knowing who I am regardless of the situation, what my goals are and living life according to my personal values is what keeps me balanced. It’s far from perfect. But it’s pretty darn great.