I’m not Wonder Woman. You have no idea what a devastating discovery that was for me! I often find myself trying to be Wonder Woman, juggle it all, and tackle every task all with ease and grace. I am prone to making poor decisions when driven by my Wonder Woman delusions. For me it is like the influence of rational thought is ignored in the wave caused by urgency. After all, I’m Wonder Woman, right!?
A prime example was the day I decided to take a full size couch down a flight of stairs by myself. Really, I know how illogical it sounds for one person, let alone a woman, to attempt to wrestle a couch down a flight of stairs. The stairs were not regular straight up and down stairs either; there was an L turn a few steps creating an exciting obstacle. Not only did I make the poor decision to go down the stairs alone with a couch, but once I realized the stupidity of my task, I didn’t do the logical thing and stop. Instead I got to the turn, balanced the couch straight up and down and then made the decision to continue on. If that isn’t bad enough I had to climb over the couch on the banister to continue my ill advised plan.
It wasn’t like the world would end if I didn’t get the couch down the stairs or that I didn’t have other choices. I had made arrangements for a charity to come pick up the couch in the morning from my driveway. At the time I was single and living alone. There were neighbors and I had plenty of friends that I could have called on to help me, but I was suffering from a severe case of wonder-womanitis. It didn’t matter what challenge was set before me, I thought I could do it all without help. Maybe in reality I was suffering from a case of arrogant pride.
I certainly was making life much harder on myself. Managing the weight of the couch as it came down the stairs towards me aided by the sheer force of gravity was more than challenging. As I victoriously wrestled the couch out the door and onto the driveway I scolded myself for the dangerous situation I had just been through.
The reality of couch plus gravity vs. Kayla was that the couch easily could have been the one making the victory dance right over top of me. It was a stupid move. To top it all off the next day the charity refused to pick up my couch, it wasn’t good enough, and I had to drag it back indoors – this time into the garage, with the lesson learned about the fallacy of urgency.
In reality I think that many of us are attempting the same exact thing in our lives and businesses. I often find myself with an avalanche of commitments coming towards me from different directions. In those moments I remind myself that I am not Wonder Woman, pout for a moment about that reality, and then rearrange priorities to tackle with the strength of a mere mortal woman.
Are you suffering from a case of wonder-womanitis? Ever found yourself with the same delusions? How did you cope with the reality that you too are not Wonder Woman?
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