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This afternoon as I was driving from a court hearing in a child murder case involving a child witness who is being called to testify against his father, heading to a rehearsal at my daughter's school where I volunteer as a choreographer for the drama club, I was talking to my business partner about some staffing issues in our forensic practice. A call beeped in while we were talking so I switched over to that call, and it was my daughter's talent agent, asking me if I could bring my daughter to an audition tomorrow at 3 pm. When I switched back to the call with my partner and mentioned who had been on the other line, he said, "Sherrie, I don't know how you juggle so many different balls at the same time." 

It's a comment high-achieving women hear so often that it's usually not given much thought. It's just what we do. But is it really? I mean, think about it. Compared to what most of us actually do each and every day, juggling a lot of balls wouldn't be so bad, would it? Because the objects we juggle aren't simple little balls. The objects we juggle are all different shapes and sizes. Some are fragile and have to be handled with great care; some are tough and don't need much care at all. Some require a serious approach; some require humor; some even require silliness.

So is it a juggling act? Yes indeed. But when you think about it, it's got to be the most challenging and difficult juggling act anyone has ever seen! For instance, just using me as an example, today I went from a very serious hearing where people's futures and lives are involved to a dance rehearsal with a group of loud, often silly tweens to my home where, as soon as I walked through the door, my youngest daughter asked me to take her on a bike ride, after which I helped my oldest daughter find and memorize two contrasting monologues to perform at her audition tomorrow afternoon. Whew! My brain hurts just thinking about it. And I'm sure if you think about it, your day presented its own challenges.

What do we do to get through it? We don't think about it. It's all got to get done and we just do it. And tomorrow, we'll all wake up and start juggling all over again - except the objects I'll be juggling will be different than those I juggled today. And the objects you'll be juggling will be different than the objects I'll be juggling. 

My point is, though, we really should think about it - at least every so often. So I just wanted to say kudos, jugglers! When you think about it - really think about it - no matter how seemlessly you do it, It's not easy to do what you do.