by REBECCA SPARROW
I was an ‘It’ girl twelve years ago. Not in a great legs, glossy hair, Miranda Kerr kinda way. Obviously.
But I had one of those lives that other people envied. I was 28-years-old. I lived in a fabulous old Queenslander I was renting with my girlfriends. I had a good looking American boyfriend. I was earning a terrific salary and, oh yes, I was the editor of one of Australia’s highest circulating travel magazines.
You know what that means, don’t you? I traveled the world. For free. I flopped onto the world’s comfiest bed at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York. I sailed in a First Class Cabin on the QE2. I flew First Class.
Yo, I was living the dream, y’all.
Back then people marvelled at my life and because I was, well, an idiot, I allowed them to think my life was perfect and didn’t tell them the truth: That if Dorothy pulled back the curtain she’d find me in a disastrous relationship that I was barely holding together (and would later attempt to fix with a Vegas wedding! Because that ALWAYS works.). And that the travel, as intoxicating as it looked from the outside, was often lonely. Part of the great joy of traveling is sharing it with someone. Anyone. Annnnnnnnnyone.
Top Comments
I so get where you are coming from and so much of what you say transfers across to my situation.
Except substitute sausages in bread for ham and cheese sandwiches in front of a Barbie movie!
We all have to learn to be more honest. I am the mum of two children, one who is severely disabled. I work part time in a management role and juggle so many balls it's exhausting. People often ask me how I cope and I regularly reply "I don't but I have a good doctor" cue crickets chirping... People don't know how to respond to admissions of not coping or having days where it's all too much or where you are suffering crippling anxiety or exhaustion or both. But I am still functioning in the world, I follow fashion trends and try to look nice and nag the teenager and the husband! The house is a mess most of the time and despite the Nigella cookbooks spag Bol and apricot chicken are regular meals. We need permission from ourselves and others to be able to go "it's a bit much today" and not feel like we have broken an unwritten rule of society!