I Want to Have It All a.k.a. Be Perfect

Effortlessly pretty, smart and popular … that’s what all of us girls have wanted to be since we hit middle school. It’s the ultimate package and everyone idolizes it, right?

By Candy

Now that I’ve outgrown much of my adolescent insecurities, small-minded desires and done a little research, I’ve come to realize that there is a shitload of pressure on young girls to be perfect — look hot, get A’s, have a ton of friends … We’re told from the early age of like four that we can be anything we want to be, do anything boys can do — and we always have that in our heads to an extent.

A girl who encompasses all of this is referred to as an “Amazing Girl” according to recent NYTimes article. She’s defined as “high achieving, ambitious and confident” and she does absolutely everything: “varsity sports, student government, theater, community service.”

Although I can’t say I’ve been one to have all that, let alone be willing to juggle a bajillion things, I can remember seeming to always want it — that perfect life, where everything goes right.

But this ideal is so impossible to have. You’re supposed to 1) Be an ‘A’ student 2) Not work too hard because you should be having fun too 3) And to top it off, you should be pretty, athletic and popular. Whoa mama, that’s a load. Yet somehow, many girls are able to handle it.

Now those girls — do they have time to actually breathe, relax or have a real life? I feel like their daily lives must be totally consumed with activities to develop a resume on steroids, that they really aren’t taking moments to reflect on their lives. They have their teachers, parents and competition constantly in their faces, urging them to be the best, to improve themselves. That must get unbelievably tiring. So is having it all really all it’s cracked up to be? I’m not sure I think so anymore.

Do you want to have it all?