The Raccoon Award.

Greetings, all you beautiful ginger bread people! I got the Raccoon Award today from my GP...he thinks it's hilarious. Read on to see if you qualify for this ribbon. But first, let's get into my doctor episode, poor man. I sat there and cried like a cartoon character, two little fountains bending from the corners of my eyes. I cried about the fact that I worry over my family, work in an enviroment where I am forced to make life and death decisions for other people on a daily basis and that I wake up during the night from exhaustion. I mean, who does that? More and more, I notice how fast-paced the world is and that everyone is just expected to shut up and keep up. And burn up. Somewhere in our history some handsome fool made the rule that we have to tough things out; be the best worker and not have a private life that your boss care about, be the perfect partner when your partner is anything but, be an octopus parent with eight arms and be the support pillar for your sick child, nagging BFF and seals getting clubbed. Some people have tough lives but they have super support structures in place. However, most do not. This social stance that we must be super people and to shame those that can't keep up, is something that must stop. So if you have so much stress in your life that the dark circles under your eyes make you look like a surprised raccoon, then consider yourself Awarded. So here's the ginger cookie for today: start with yourself and break the myth of perfection. Even if all you can manage is just a little acceptance that nobody's perfect, not even that perfect soccer mom next door that you hate so much. Wanting to be perfect is hardwired into modern culture so its not an overnight thing one can fix, but work at accepting that it is nothing more than a dangerous myth that is causing burn out and destroying more than it is building.