Keep Your Health Up

I would like to start from these very interesting comments on the article Career Women at Midlife: Sadder and Sicker published in Bussiness Week as the examples of different suggestions and points of view on the problem of

Catie
 I long ago realized that you can’t have it all. I guess I’m fortunate that Mom. Grandmom, Great Grandmom were all working women. I grew up knowing that work and family drag you in different directions, you can’t be that parent at all the school activities and you sometimes have to tell the office NO. You cannot do everything 100% right all the time. I don’t fool myself into believing I am Superwoman. I understand what I can and cannot do and speak up about it. although there are certainly some problems with the current system, honestly who would want to go back to being a dependent 50’s house frau? I like earning my own money, developing my own career, and not expecting my husband to have to support me.
 

AMP

 I realized a couple of years ago that I can’t do all things well at the same time. In other words, I am a mother, an employee, a wife and a daughter. I can not be 100% at all of these things all of the time. When, I resigned myself to just making sure that in this juggling act ‘none of the balls drop’, I instantly became happier. I realized that I was the one putting on the pressure; not my husband, children, parents, etc. Allowing myself to not be the best at all things all the time has made all the difference for me.
David
Apr 14, 2009 8:24 PM GMT
 Women fell for the myth that somehow the business and career path led to “happiness” and “Fulfillment” that was sold by the media and women’s groups like NOW. How did the briefcase carrying, power suit wearing woman bcome the “ideal”. All they had to do was ask any man: work is a grind that is required to live. That’s all. Too bad it took them 40 years and inumerable hearty attacks and strokes to learn that.
 

polly pearson
Apr 10, 2009 8:48 PM GMT
 Regarding the suggestion to model a fulfilling life at different stages, EMC just produced a book that could help. It contains stories written by about 100 working mothers spanning multiple age, profession, and geography demographics. In one page stories, the women reveal the joys, stress, guilt, demands, and motivation that make up their lives. They also share tips for how they manage. One outcome of this sharing of stories, insights, and tips could be that women and men from around the world gain a greater awareness of the working mother experience, through which productive and fulfilling lives can be better shaped while we all continue to nurture the next generation. Regards, Polly Pearson VP Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement EMC Corporation
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Angela
Apr 7, 2009 4:24 PM GMT
 I always tell young women not to buy into the hype that today’s woman can have it all. The truth is you can try to have it all but you’re going to end up living with a lot of unhealthy guilt. I don’t know if there’s a fix out there for this or if it’s just a reality we have to live with.
Darlene
Apr 7, 2009 2:37 AM GMT
 I think as women are aging and slowing down that we feel guilty that we can’t or are not willing to do everything we use to do. Therefore the guilt is making us sick. When we should embrace ourselves for the excellence career we strived for, the great children we raised & the ex that didn’t help you with the little(or big) things that stressed us out.
lgal
Apr 2, 2009 7:33 PM GMT
 One thing that wasn’t mentioned was the biological aspect(I wonder if it was even explored?) Women start losing testosterone in their early/mid 40’s, losing the drive they once had. It is a mid-life crisis and it is physical as well as psycological.
Serena
Apr 2, 2009 3:46 PM GMT
 Conlin hits the mark for what so many high achieving career women are experiencing. The economic downtown may provide an opportunity for many to re-assess and determine what is best for them in the Career 2.0 life phase. Jason’s comment is absolutely RIDICULOUS! The last thing we need is paternalism. It’s offensive.
KCopas
Apr 2, 2009 12:34 PM GMT
 ’the stuff of glossy-magazine perfection’ is at the heart of problem. the media have perpetuate a plastic world which we blindly strive to achieve. Guess what, plastic world is not the real world. That’s why men and women have mid-life crises. Everything they dreamed of and worked so hard for was an illusion. The difficult bit is hitting that realisation. We need to put health before wealth and keep our egos under control.
 

john
Apr 1, 2009 10:27 PM GMT
 ”here’s the bright spot…girls are trouncing boys”. If true, why is this to be celebrated? if false, why is this to be claimed?