Women Can't Have It All

Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi was recently ranked #13 on Forbes' Power Women's list, but that's not the only reason her name is coming up in the news. She recently got personal and proclaimed that women can't have it all, and suddenly people are "shocked." Why? Cause someone is saying what we're all afraid to really say, or going against what society programs us to believe. Sorry, kill that dream right now cause women can't have it all. But neither can men. The real problem lies in setting some expectation that women have to be the ones balancing their personal and professional lives, but men have the same problem. A man who is the breadwinner spending long hours at work and missing his children grow up does not have it all either. Something's gotta give, for women and men.

We all have this pie chart in life with different sections. The different section sizes correspond to how much time in our lives we allocate to that part of it, and the sections can grow and shrink depending on the different phases of our life. Sections? Generally my work/school section is about 75% of my chart squeezing in the fitness or social life sections is usually next, and everything else fits only depending on the way my life is going. If you decide to start a family, (whether you're a man or a woman,) your pie is going to change; or maybe it isn't- either you're going to be taking away time from other parts of your life for your children or you're not going to be giving enough time to your very important new additions. You won't have it all: equal sized sections of the pie. However, that's just part of life, trying to figure out how to arrange pieces in the best way that works for you.

Nooyi also comments that your biological clock and career clock are conflicting, and I can totally agree with this. While you're supposed to be developing your career and working hardest in the beginning, your 35 year-old alarm clock is waiting to go off and every birthday after 21 is a scary reminder of that. Life is a balance, it's a struggle, and nothing will be perfect. Get over that picture perfect image of your life and how it's supposed to look. Don't get me wrong, the dreams you have either personally or professionally can most definitely come true. However, they're not going to all happen at once. All the cosmos aren't going to align and you aren't going to be some superwoman in Choos running from the office to greet your perfect children and whipping up a Le Cordon Bleu worthy meal. Women can't have it all, men can't have it all, humans can't have it all. But that's ok, we're not supposed to have it all figured out. That's the beauty of it all: I don't have it all, you don't have it all, and Nooyi doesn't have it all.