Do you ever feel as if you are not good enough?
The Today Show has been part of my morning routine for as long as I can remember. I’ve always looked up to the women on the show as strong role models beginning with Barbara Walters, followed by Jane Pauley, Katie Couric, Meredith Vieria, and Ann Curry. They are all smart, savvy women in a ruthless profession. They represent the best and the brightest who are living their life in the spotlight, but sharing the same concerns and burdens we have in common as women.
If they are vulnerable to insecurities living in the spotlight, how can we as mere mortals cope?
We are multi-faceted creatures who deep down want to know that the choices we make and the actions we take are earning the love and respect of those we love and admire. Just because someone has a lucrative TV contract, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, or won any kind of award, does not make us immune to feelings of fear and inadequacy.
Rumors are flying right now that after 15 years of waiting patiently for her turn in the prime seat on the “Today” couch; Ann Curry’s “dream job” is turning into a nightmare because of low ratings.
“It's hard not to take it personally,” Curry told journalist Lee Woodruff for a Ladies' Home Journal cover story. “You worry, Am I not good enough…I think about the people who watch. They're the ones who matter to me. I want to feel I haven't dropped the ball when it comes to them.”
My mother is one of those people Curry is talking about. A Midwestern farm wife who fed her children home made bread, farm fresh eggs, and Pillsbury bake-off prize winning desserts; she is one of the millions who tune in to watch their friend, Ann every morning. We need women like Barbara, Jane, Katie, Meredith, and Ann on television. They remind us all that it is not just a good-old-boys network. We are good enough and have important contributions to make. Women in the stand out in the spotlight share the same universal struggle with those of us who are in the of seeking balance within themselves, their career, and their home life by honoring commitments, swallow compromises; again and again. Still, never losing sight of our own dreams and championing the dreams of those we love!
Women are called the gentler sex because we are! Gentle means calm, kind, tender, and temperate. It does not mean weak. We allow ourselves to be vulnerable, show compassion, ask for clarification, and are willing to accept assistance. When faced with a situation out of our ordinary laundry list of challenges (household dilemmas, miscellaneous childhood dramas, in-law negotiation, supply clerk and travel coordinator, inner-office crisis, + more…), we may go into over-load and question how we ever accomplish anything. We wonder if we are good enough?
The Unleashed Homemaker is here to remind you – Yes, you are good enough! You are enough exactly the way you are right now!
P. S. Keep on doing exactly what you have been doing with all the grace, care and compassion you have in you. People look as much at how you act as the words you say.