You're enough today.

Sarah sits at her kitchen table and drops her head into her hands. She wonders how she is going to balance everything that is on her plate today – three business meetings and a proposal deadline, and now a sick child. Matt, Sarah’s husband, is facing an equally busy day at his office, and the decision was made the previous evening that Sarah would be the one to stay home with their daughter.

With full-time work schedules and the demands of two children, Sarah and Matt often feel like their lives are a juggling act. In their strong, supportive community, carpooling and help is easy to come by — a huge factor in making it all work out okay. Until something like a sick day throws a wrench into their system. 

Sarah reschedules two meetings with no problem, but there’s one appointment that she’s hesitant to change. It’s a new deal with huge potential, and she has a quarterly quota that she needs to meet. Sarah strategizes and decides that she will ask a colleague to meet with her new client. It will cost her part of the commission, if the deal goes through, but that is better than a reschedule for the client. Sarah figures she can work on the proposal while her daughter watches a movie. The T.V. will have to be a babysitter today.

Sarah opens her laptop to notify her manager that her daughter is sick and to reach out to the colleague that she trusts to meet with her new client. As she reads through this morning’s new email, she feels a headache coming on. Three more corporate trainings have just been assigned to her. Then a reply from her colleague comes through. She is blocked for most of the day and can’t take the new client meeting.

Sarah sits at her kitchen table, stares into space, questions everything – her ability to be a good Mom, her dedication to her job, her decision to work full-time. She is full of self-doubt and feels extremely overwhelmed.

Simultaneously, her cell phone rings and her daughter cries out from upstairs for her help. Sarah snaps out of her deep thoughts and does what all working parents do. She sends the call to voicemail and runs to help her daughter, making the first of many decisions that will come today with balancing the needs of home and work.

This post is written for all who are juggling the complexity of life, worrying if you’re making the right decisions, second guessing yourself and questioning your ability to get through the day. This is written to remind you that you can’t do everything. It’s not always about working more, harder or faster. Trying to do what you can, knowing that you won’t do everything, is enough. You’re enough today.