By Samantha McKenzie

Let’s be honest. You’re not motivated every day to be your very best.

I’ve slapped the snooze button more times than I can count. I’ve run in late for a meeting or two, even though I looked at my calendar the evening prior and still forgot about it in the morning. I over commit. Bust deadlines. Wake up in the middle of the night in a panic. Hide under the covers.  Cry in the closet for all the right reasons.

But I’m learning to give myself permission to be…normal.

To tell you the truth, I have anxiety almost every Sunday evening because Mondays at work are just way too intense. I snap at my child from time to time without warrant and stay up way past my bedtime worrying about her intangible future. I burn dinner and settle on takeout. Fall off the work out wagon multiple times in a month and mysteriously keep forgetting to buy a battery for the scale.

I’ve come to understand that my life doesn’t have to be perfect for me to accomplish my goals. Learning to accept my good days along with my bad ones make living a little less hectic and helps me manage my own expectations.

It’s about getting comfortable with your limitations, knowing your threshold and understanding that in order to be a woman, every day will be slightly different.

To me, it’s also about pushing past the voices that derail you, even when those voices are coming from within. Those unscripted days help purge your mind and give you a chance to let the toxins out. To release. To let go. To let God.

When it’s all said and done, it’s good to give yourself permission to just be. I still know without a doubt that my best days are ahead. That I’ve got more awesomeness around the corner. That you can’t keep a good woman down. That the imperfect moments won’t last long.

So, I permit my often complicated, sporadic, wishy-washy, emotional, positive and passionate self to rest, refocus, rejuvenate…and then I just saddle up.