Keeping Up

I am participating in the Blogging From A-Z Challenge. Each day in April (except the last 4 Sundays), I will post topic themes that begin with the letters of the alphabet, from A-Z. Today's letter is K.
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As a woman, I find myself going in a zillion different directions, taking on more than my fair share, and trying to do it all w/ grace.  I also fail at all of these things on a regular basis.  Some days my only comfort is knowing I'm not alone. Unfortunately, there are women who have the destructive and extremely misguided notion that we should be like vicious predators, picking apart the weakest members of a herd to demonstrate our own superiority.
A perfect example of this is my sister-in-law.  She has the keeping up with the Jones' mentality.  Whenever she sees someone doing something major in their life (buying a car or house, having kids, getting married, etc.), she has this need to one-up them somehow.  She just has to be better than everyone in some way, even if there is really no competition to do so. This has always frustrated me b/c I feel as if we should be a united front, not competitors.  
What she (and many other women) fail to understand is that we all struggle to keep up.  Whether it's at work or at home; metaphorically or in the most literal sense of the word.  The truth is, no one, NOT ONE SINGLE PERSON, can keep up with everything all the time.  As my boss likes to say, "some days you get the bear & some days the bear gets you".  The last thing in the world any of us should be doing is kicking someone when they're down.
Us women need to stick together.  We're the only ones who truly understand how much our fellow sisters take on in a single day.  When one of us is struggling, we should encourage them to take a moment & cry it out, then help them stand back up & carry on.  We all have a hard time keeping up with our daily responsibilities, why should we try to force ourselves to keep up (and outdo) each other?!  
Last night was not a great one for me.  I had a mommy meltdown, yelled at my kid for making a huge mess in my room, and went to bed in tears.  I didn't clean my house (though it desperately needed it) and I didn't cuddle w/ my hubs on the couch like we usually do right before bed.  I was so unbelievably overwhelmed by everything, from the laundry to the mess my kid made to the dirty dishes in the sink.  I don't feel this way all the time, but occasionally it all piles up and I simply break down.  
When I stopped crying, I grabbed my phone & posted on my fb that it just wasn't my night.  Most people don't feel the need to share such information in a public forum like that, but all too often I see people only posting when things are going well.  They project these unrealistic illusions of having it all together & I decided I'd let my flaws hang out.  When I woke up this morning, I had several comments from friends encouraging me and letting me know I'm not alone.  I can't tell you how much better I feel today!  After making my apologies, getting an extra hour of sleep, and seeing the outpouring of support from my friends, my spirit is renewed.  I have what I need to keep going & face the things that bogged me down yesterday.  And that, my friends, is how it should be.