Hi there!

Can I be perfectly honest with you? I think we put too much pressure on ourselves. Like, WAY too much.

As a recently married twenty-something woman, my life is infused with pressures I feel from different areas. I feel the twenty-first century I-can-do-this-without-a-man pressure to establish myself in my career (teaching middle school special education–whole different set of pressures that I won’t even get into!) and begin to pursue graduate classes to further my education. I also feel the traditional gender-role pressure to be the model housewife: house spotless, meals prepared (delicious, healthy, and aesthetically pleasing, of course), laundry neat and folded, and all my junk drawers, closets, and storage spaces looking like something out of Real Simple magazine. And when guests come over, I feel the Martha-Stewart pressure to be the model hostess with the perfect house. I have been known to freak out two minutes before a house guest arrives because my bed is unmade. What if they want a tour of my house?! They can’t think I’m a bad/sloppy/lazy wife for not having those sheets tucked in with precision!

I should also probably just go ahead and look flawlessly (and effortlessly) put-together as all this is going on. As soon as the guests go home, I will seamlessly turn into a Victoria’s Secret model and cause my husband to thank his lucky stars for finding such a gem like me.

Now let’s not forget internet pressure. Internet pressure makes me feel lousier than all the above pressures combined. Facebook makes me feel pressure to always look beautiful and glamorous in every picture. I’m terrified of a friend snapping a bad picture and then posting it because *gasp* maybe that guy from 10th grade English class whom I haven’t talked to since graduation will see it and think I’ve “let myself go” since high school. Twitter makes me feel like I should always have something interesting or witty to say, which is exactly why I don’t have an account. If I did, all my tweets would be about either the sunrise or my dog. Fascinating stuff, huh? Instagram makes me feel like my life should be so exciting that I should always have awesome things to take stellar pictures of (all while looking beautiful and glamorous, of course). And then there’s Pinterest. Lord knows, I love me some Pinterest. I don’t know how I would have planned my wedding without it. While I love it (and can honestly be classified as somewhat of an addict), it also makes me feel like a huge failure. Do I have that fabulous set of six-pack abs after all the workouts I pinned? Nope. Do I decorate my home in holiday perfection? Huh uh. Do ANY of my crafts or projects I attempt turn out half as cute as the picture pinned? Goodness no! And for Pete’s sake, no matter how many tutorials I pin I still can’t do a successful waterfall braid. Fail. Fail. Fail.

I can already look aheada few years to when my husband and I have children. I know I will feel pressure to have an all-natural-no-matter-what birth (yikes!!) and to only feed my children all-organic everything. And kale (seriously, what IS that stuff?). I’ll feel pressure to do all those adorable teacher gifts for their teachers (darn you again, Pinterest!) and have crafts and projects for them to do all the time to keep their minds engaged and away from the TV.

So by my calculations, in 7-10 years, this pressure I feel is telling me I will need to be able to balance EVERYTHING just listed, and do it all while driving my organically-fed children to soccer practice on my way to the PTA meeting (my Type-A personality would, naturally, be a perfect choice for President, right?).

AHHH!

I feel overwhelmed nearly all of the time.

And I am tired of it.

This blog was started as my attempt to STOP this madness. Yes, I feel pressure. We ALL feel a ridiculous amount of pressure to have it all together. And to be honest, none of the above things I listed are bad. I want all of those things to be part of my life in some aspect (except, perhaps the kale). But I have to find a balance or I am going to go insane.

I notice something is missing from the pressures listed above. Not one pressure made me feel like I need to kick back and ENJOY life. That is going to change starting NOW. I am putting a new kind of pressure on myself. A pressure to throw off the old, nagging pressures and to live a happy, healthy, and balanced life. A pressure that emphasizes finding joy in each day and appreciating the efforts that I do put in rather than feeling bad for not putting in more.

This blog is not geared towards any one specific thing because I’m not geared towards one specific thing. I love teaching, cooking, fashion, staying active, and being a wife and friend. So my posts will reflect all of those things. But they will also (hopefully) reflect that I am trying to strike a healthy balance. They will also occasionally still talk about the sunrise or my dog, because I am highly entertained by both. I’m striving to “simplify the chaos” around me and choose joy over perfection. And I think I’m going to like it.

My name is Sarah. I’m a recovering pressure-filled perfectionist. I’m married to a fabulous guy named Justin who loves me in spite of my crazies and have an extremely energetic and all-around loveable black and yellow lab mix puppy named Macie. Welcome to my blog!