Five Pressures Of The Modern Day “Wonder Woman”
Do you have ‘Wonder Woman Syndrome’?
This is the growing characteristic of us girls in which we always have a million things to do, flying through the day at 100mph and cramming a crazy amount of ‘to-dos’ into one singular day. We have work, family, partner, hobbies, oh and er…social life. We beat ourselves up if we don’t fit everything in or forget to pick up milk. Our ambitious nature means running around in a blur trying to ‘have it all’ and only satisfied when we are literally collapsing into bed with a face wipe balanced on our forehead and one shoe still on. Being a Wonder Woman is awesome, sure, and being ambitious is never a bad thing. But, being a Wonder Woman can also KNACKER YOU OUT. It can catch up with you, even if you are taking multi-vitamins and daily doses of Berocca. You will eventually need a rest. Sorry to say it, but you will.
I thought I’d put down five pressures* we have to deal with at all times maybe to realise that actually, we can calm down slightly. We don’t have to be smashing our to-do lists every minute of every day. We will end up wrinkly and no one wants that.
*I’m sure there’s many more that I’ve left out.
NUMBER ONE: We have to wear nice clothes in the workplace to prove we are business savvy and high-flying successful career women.
Actually, we don’t. If we have our brains and nice stationary this should be enough. Wearing the ‘just off-the-catwalk’ Burberry wrap dress might get you a ‘oooh’ from the reception and wink from the creep on the 4th floor but it won’t impress your boss or make the quality of your work any better. Stop worrying that you’re not wearing the latest garment worthy of getting papped by ELLE magazine and instead wear something that makes you feel comfortable but good enough to know you can take on any meeting.
NUMBER TWO: We have to be domestic goddesses and know how to make every meal from scratch.
Again, it’s fine if you don’t. And don’t worry if you find yourself staring at people blankly if they keep harping on about quinoa (“It’s like cous-cous, but it’s not cous-cous. It’s like cous-cous but with more protein in it”). Kill me now. If you have enough veggies and you sometimes experiment using the odd recipe from your food blogger friends and you don’t ring your mum crying then you’re doing FINE. Don’t be made to feel silly by these crazy kitchen loonies, you’ll learn with time. (Well, that’s what I think. I am no Gordon Ramsay. Well, in terms of swearing, maybe.)
NUMBER THREE: You have to wear high-heeled footwear on an evening out.
I am currently an ambassador for flat footwear. Even if you are going to the poshest, loudest, modernist, crazy night out. Do not be pressured into thinking you will have a better night if you are wearing towering footwear, or that people won’t take you as seriously. In fact, the irony is laughable. If you are wearing heels (especially new ones), the probability of you stacking it on the way to the toilet, or complaining about foot cramp, or waddling, or kicking them off under the table and accidentally giving the important person next you a whiff of your feet – you THEN might not be taken very seriously. Not to mention any dance floors that don’t allow you to move in the way you’d expected, you’ll be lying on the dance-floor with your knickers on show before you know it. Don’t under-estimate the power of your own two feet. If necessary, a slight heel or a wedge is a winner.
NUMBER FOUR: If you are sitting down, then you are lazy and should be doing something productive.
Wrong! If you are having some well deserved ‘me-time’ in the evening after a stressful day, then this a GOOD thing. I know so many people who get fidgety if they are not crazy busy at all times. It’s bad for the soul. If you don’t sometimes gather your thoughts then how do you even know what you think? How do you take in information? How do you realise what makes you happy? I like the phrase “do less and notice more”. In this stressed world it’s actually crucial to take a step back sometimes and be like, ‘Okay, that’s what’s happening in the world’ instead of being so busy in your own little routine bubble. Reading is good, too.
NUMBER FIVE: You don’t just have to look good in a bikini, you have to look good if you were doing star-jumps in a bikini.
I get that it’s important to look good and be toned. And we’re all try as much as we can to do that. But priorities do change. Back in the day when I was at university and HAD NOTHING TO DO (literally a 1 hour lecture per week), of COURSE I was going to concentrate that little bit more on aesthetics, go and perv on boys in the gym, go for runs and pick nice outfits for the evenings. When you are bored to tears, have free student money and holidays to go on, yes, you will probably look better in a bikini. We can’t all be bikini-ready at all times, is my point. In the Winter, I LOVE the fact that you can drink a bit more mulled wine and eat a bit more, wearing big jumpers and who the hell will notice a few extra pounds, anyway? I then completely understand that in order not to gross any one out in the Summer, it’s important I behave myself slightly better in the food arena and be a bit more boring in order to get a flatter tum. I believe it’s totally dependent on the season and not something that we have to maintain all year round. Ditch the scales, but do worry if you can’t fit into your clothes anymore. That’s my motto.
