“Life is like a blanket too short. You pull it up and your toes rebel, you yank it down and shivers meander about your shoulder; but cheerful folks manage to draw their knees up and pass a very comfortable night.”
Marion Howard (1805-1875)
“The very concept of having it all flies in the face of the basic laws of economics and common sense. As Sharon Poczter, professor of economics at Cornell, explains, “The antiquated rhetoric of ‘having it all’ disregards the basis of every economic relationship: the idea of trade-offs. All of us are dealing with the constrained optimization that is life, attempting to maximize our utility based on parameters like career, kids, relationships, etc., doing our best to allocate the resource of time. Due to the scarcity of this resource, therefore, none of us can ‘have it all’…”
“Having it all is best regarded as a myth…. Each of us makes choices constantly between work and family, exercising and relaxing, making time for others and taking time for ourselves. Being a parent means making adjustments, compromises, and sacrifices every day…”
From ‘Lean In’ by Sheryl Sandberg
What are your choices, compromises and sacrifices?
ENDS
Image 1: by Eugeny (Ef) Kozhevnikov
Image 2: A balanced family
Otrazhenie 
Excellent advice. Being aware that choices must be made, and that we can do it consciously s the first key step – otherwise we will try to “have it all”, others will make our choices for us, and we will feel like failures.
Very good point, Steve 🙂
In such cases, i use my blanket diagonally and it gets better. 🙂
What a good idea, satzie! 🙂
🙂
So true! It’s better to choose few things – meaningful difference-making life-enriching things – and do them with excellence. Don’t let others dictate your choices – it’s a tailor-made garment, not one-size-fits-all. Thank you O.
So true 🙂
Just checking out your blog and your post is so timely for me. Thanks for your thoughtful words. For me it’s about making the choices about how to spend time that are consistent with my personal goals and values.
Glad that you found this post helpful 🙂
Every situation has advantages and disadvantages. We have no control over the situation but we do choose our response and our perspective /perceptions. We can choose to see the advantages – and enjoy the place we find ourselves, so we may not ‘have it all’ but we can have the best of it – a good night’s sleep under a short blanket! 🙂 Nice post – thanks!
Glad that you liked this post, Rob 🙂
Love this, Rob!
This post is so true, and I especially like Rob McShane’s comment above. I have found that severe illness puts a slightly different set of parameters around the idea of having it all. Severe illness gives you lots of empty time, but the constraining parameter becomes energy. The question each day becomes, “Given my very limited energy, how do I wish to use it today?” Thanks for this lovely post, and thanks for the Like on my blog!