I Can’t Do It All: Learning To Be Enough In An Ambitious World

When will it be enough?

I can’t do it all. I’m a driven, Type A kind of woman. And yet it is not my ambition that determines my limits. My watch tells me the limits. Now in my 40s, my body tells me what some of my limits are. My children, hungry for good food and proper attention, tell me the limits. My bank account tells me the limits.

The sky is not the limit, no matter how much I want to believe that. I’m a human and that comes with plenty of constraints, right here on planet Earth.

Maybe instead of “do everything”, we could tell our children, “Do something, good.” Find something that brings a smile to your face and helps your fellow man and pour your heart into that. Find a purpose, not a full calendar.

Thomas Merton said, “If you want to identify me, ask me not where I live, or what I like to eat, or how I comb my hair, but ask me what I am living for, in detail, ask me what I think is keeping me from living fully for the thing I want to live for.”

I want to live in such a way that I don’t constantly need more, of anything. I want to refocus my life around the few things and people that I’m supposed to be about, not the many. I can’t actually do it all anyway, and I’m going to be okay with that.

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This piece originally appeared at angiegibbons.com, published with permission.


Angie Gibbons
Angie Gibbonshttp://angiegibbons.com
I help women become their most authentic, brave selves. I am a Mom to 3 in Hawaii. Get my FREE guide to getting rid of overwhelm and anxiety.

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