Thursday, November 03, 2011

I Can't

This post is for someone I've never met.
It's for the woman like me who can't do it all.  It's for the woman who has found herself bringing up her child alone.  There are people around her, and she is loved, and the child's father is even much in evidence, but essentially, she is alone.
And I want to tell this woman It's okay: I can't do it all either.
I can't be the Mummy, and be the Daddy when the Daddy's not there.  I can't run the business and clean the house and feed the cat and take it to the vet and take the child to the hospital and edit the poetry book and be seen at the networking events and play that acting role and be there for my family and do the food shop and be there for my friends and earn enough to support us and sell the house and pack up the house and mow the lawn and put out the rubbish and write for myself and teach the school kids drama and get the car serviced and fix the heating and sort out the wasp's nest and pick the child up from school and cook us a dinner we'll both eat and go to London and smile to order and - I can't.
I can't do it all.  I want you to know that.  I can't do it all.  I want to break the conspiracy, the Superwoman-multi-tasking-super-organised-managing-everything-well conspiracy to which we all contribute by our silence.
Know this, my friend, and take heart from it:  you are not alone.  
I can't do it all, either.

3 comments:

Pippa {Pepper+Buttons} said...

I can't, I'm not alone...but do it all still!
Thanks, that was so moving x

Livvy U. said...

Glad to hear I'm not alone, thanks for reading Pippa! Livvy

Cathy said...

Livvy what a lovely post, you've not lost your writing touch! No, regardless of our circumstances we can't do it all. We can only be good enough rather than perfect. xx