A Life Of Perfect Imbalance
Published on Thursday 17th January 2008
As women we’re really good at something – beating ourselves up about not being perfect. We feel successful when all the cards line up and things fall into place – when things are balanced. But honestly, how often does that happen? So we end up beating ourselves up over events that are generally out of our control.
When I discovered I was pregnant, after the sheer disbelief and elation, came the horror that the baby was due right during London Fashion Week, the busiest time in the fashion calendar.
I contemplated the possibility of jumping on a plane straight after the birth and leaving the baby with my partner and a nanny in New York, and flying back to London for my meetings. Then the realisation hit me – one of the main reasons I’d set up Brittique  was to give me the flexibility to be a working mother.
I needed to get things into perspective, my child will be and is more important than my business - that said I’m not about to drop the business and rush fulltime into being mum, I just have to think of new ways of juggling.
My fears of failure and the nightmares subsided after hearing an interview with a high powered senior executive at a women’s event. When asked how she found balance with her children and her husband and, running a company worth nearly $1bn, she replied that she was perfectly happy with her imbalanced life.
While so simple, her words really hit me. Being in balance is another way we strive for “perfection”. Our days rarely turn out the way we plan but that’s just the way it is. And this is the philosophy that I’m working on now in the lead up to the birth of my child in just 15 weeks time.
 Some days I might not get any work done because I’m so exhausted, others my little bundle of joy might (I hope) sleep longer and I’ll get more work done. That’s just how it’s going to happen and something that I’ll deal with each day. Like the woman I heard speak, I just want to be happy with my life of perfect imbalance. I’ll keep you posted on how the theory works in practice…
For now, I’m off to The Baby to pick out a buggy! I rather fancy pounding the streets of Manhattan with a Silver Cross ...! Nothing like leaving things till the last minute...
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