Women entreprenuers and businesswomen can be seen in a different light than their male counterparts. The urge to go for it can be diminished by the struggle to create a balance with the other pieces of their lives. Home and work conflict much?
When women don't have families, is it easier for them to immerse themselves in work? A couple of months ago I was invited to participate as a guest on a conference call with my sister's company's women's book club. The subject was one of my favorite reads from 2009 (#best09), The Shriver Report. It was such an engaging discussion - we talked about what it is like to try to balance work and home life, the struggles we all face as working moms, the desire to be both successful in our work lives and a successful parent. Then, towards the end of the call, a participant joined us late. She was in her 40s and didn't have kids. Her point was that people thought that she didn't need time off because she didn't have the pull of family life. In other words, no kids = no time off. In reality, she needs balance and time off. She does have a life, although it does not involve kids of her own. It struck me that we are all so busy being busy that we often don't realize that we are punishing ourselves by not giving ourselves the time for a personal life.
Coco Chanel, as much as she talked about independence, still strove for a personal life. We all need that.
This post was inspired by the book Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky by Chris Creenhalgh, SV Moms Group's book club pick for January. I received a complimentary copy for the book for this post. You can read more book club posts here.
