OH! Magazine - Australian Version November 2018 | Page 7

( FITNESS & MOTIVATION )
MICHELLE
BRIDGES
THE FALLACY OF
FITTING IT ALL IN
Michelle Bridges lifts the lid on a common societal fallacy.

ep that’s right, I’m calling
it – no matter how organised you
are, no matter how much you prepare and
plan, there’s just no way you can always
‘fit it all in’.
Y
Trying to do so, and beating yourself up
when you ‘fail’ is something I see many
people struggle with a lot of the time. And
since becoming a mum myself, I can say
that I’ve experienced that pressure too; in
fact, it’s crazy how even though I know it’s
not possible, I still feel pressure to try and
pack absolutely everything in.
Why do we do this to ourselves? And how
can we put the brakes on and go back to
what is realistic, rather than running
ourselves into the ground?
Firstly, we need to recognise that societal
pressures have a lot of power, whether we
like it or not. That’s the reason we still
feel the push to pack everything in, even
though we know deep down that it’s not
realistic to do so.
Society standards don’t always toe the ‘in
real life’ line. For example, take society’s
standard of the ‘perfect’ body (as defined
by what we’re constantly bombarded with
in magazines, movies, on TV and on
billboards). We know that those images
are photoshopped and extensively
airbrushed – they’re certainly not
representative of ‘real life’ and yet, there
they are, creating a very powerful societal
standard. The same goes for the social
standard that shouts subliminally yet
stridently ‘You should all fitting everything
in, all the time, and if you don’t then
you’re a failure!’
Once we’ve recognised this societal
shouting for what it is – a shout that may
or may not be realistic – we can reevaluate
it.
So you need to say “Okay, okay, I hear the
shouting, and now I’m going stop and
stare and see if this standard stands up to
scrutiny or falls over under a spotlight.’
When you look closely at the ‘fitting it all
in’ expectation, you’ll see it absolutely
doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Take a look
around at those who you see and know in
real life – do they fit everything in?
Look at the people you actually know, and
spend time with; whose actual, real lives
you see and are a part of (as opposed to
those whose life you only see the
‘showreel’ of – on social media, for
example).
Trust me when I say no one, but no one,
is fitting it all in, all the time! The truth is,
everyone juggles multiple things –
multiple projects on the go at work;
multiple kids at school drop-offs, school
events, after-school activities; multiple
personal commitments like dentist
appointments, car servicing, housework,
dinner dates, supermarket shopping...
and the list goes on!
So inevitably, things have to get dropped
from the schedule now and again; you
can’t attend your child’s school assembly
where they’re receiving a reading prize
because you’ve got to deliver a
presentation to your CEO; or you had to
cancel last minute on your high school
reunion dinner because you had to help
your child with their school project,
because your partner was held up at the
car servicing centre and after that had to
pick up the dog from the vet!
Once you’ve reevaluated things, you can
then redirect – deliberately and
consciously push back on the fallacy that
is ‘fitting it all in’.
Rather than run yourself into the ground
as you try and keep all the balls you’re
juggling in the air at all times, you can
then redirect your energies into
rescheduling; and rescheduling as many
times as you need to!
Embracing the fact that some things just
simply won’t get done in time and being
okay with that is powerful. Acknowledging
that you can’t please everyone all of the
time, and accepting that some people are
going to be disappointed at your
rescheduling, and being okay with that is
powerful. Equally powerful is being okay
with feeling disappointed when other
people’s rescheduling impacts our plans.
Redirecting like this won’t always feel
great (remember the pull of societal
standards is powerful, no matter how
unrealistic they are), BUT the discomfort
or disappointment felt from redirecting is
much better than the alterntive of running
yourself into the ground trying to keep up
with the unrealistic fallacy of ‘fitting it all
in’.
So go forth and recognise, reevaluate and
redirect!
CONNECT WITH MICHELLE VIA:
Web: michellebridges.com.au
Facebook: Mishy.Bridges
Twitter: @mishbridges
Instagram: @mishbridges
OH! MAGAZINE ( NOVEMBER 2018 )
7