My own biggest critic

Natasha Colbaugh

Buy this photo

As women we always see a better version of ourselves and wonder if we are acting to our greatest ability.

Recently, my boss and friend Susan Sharp said, “there is always room for improvement.”

That is easy for me to accept because I see plenty of room to improve myself in an ever-expanding news industry.

But at the same time it got me thinking not only about work performance but also about our jobs as mothers and homemakers.

We wonder if we are good mothers and are always trying to do right by our children. We wonder if we are creating healthy habits and socially acceptable environments. However, I always doubt my performance even as I strive to do the best possible. Sometimes it never seems good enough. Or I will compare myself to the impossible standards others have met.

When will we be happy and proud of what we have accomplished? Well that question seems to be answered in the smallest of goals.

Each day as I see my son Lucas interested in the world, a big tree trunk or a bird in the sky (he looks at each thing like it is new and exciting). These simple interests make me confident about my ability to teach him.

There are the long-term goals of weight loss or the short term ones of compromising with our spouses. And though it took me a year to loose the massive amount of weight I gained while pregnant-I still consider it a goal accomplished.

When it comes to a spouse though, it always seems to be a compromise. We can't accomplish the goals in marriage by winning every argument. Rather we have to be able to give and take on many things, even though it may drive me crazy I have to pick my battles.

I wish life was like that and we could say, “Hey life, I will let you have this one but you owe me.”

Now, there is a difference between finding a medium ground and lowering your self worth. Compromise shouldn't leave us feeling like we have lost. The trick I guess is to keep trying and when we fall short of our goals we find ways to strengthen ourselves.  We have to transition ourselves from our biggest critic to our biggest supporter. Because, face it, in the end we are our biggest advocates as well.