Ardie, like many of us, had caught perfectionism, an illness that we heard was more common in women by a factor of roughly twenty to one.
When I wrote this, I was thinking a lot about how affected I can be by Instagram and Pinterest. I see these lovely home décor profiles and think: if my home doesn’t look like that, I’m failing. I see these fashion and beauty profiles and I think: if I don’t look like that, I’m failing. I find these Pinterest pictures of kids’ lunches and family dinners and worry that if I’m not doing it like that, then I’m not doing my best. You know what’s funny? I don’t hear my husband express those same types of concerns nearly as often, which is probably why so many of these industries that promote beauty narratives, wellness, fitness, lifestyle, success…they’re primarily aimed at women. I also started thinking: it’s probably no coincidence that we hear, for instance, how women believe that, in order to apply for a new job, they need to be 95% qualified whereas men feel the percentage is much, much lower. (I cringe to recall how guilty I am of this last one).
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