Staying on Top of it All

Last week, I was catching up with a friend over bubble tea. We talked about all the usual things - jobs (or lack thereof), her upcoming wedding, and so on

As we were leaving, she said, "Elle, we really need to do this more often. It's always so good to talk to you because you have your shit together and I can pick your brain."

If we were chatting online at the time, which we clearly were not, and if I were the type of person to ever say, "LOL," which I'm also not, my response would have been the following:

LOLOLOLOLOL K

I mean, my friend has a luxury apartment and a fiance, and recently hit her 5 year anniversary at her job. Meanwhile, I've been unemployed for 10 months, the extent of my love life right now is thinking that maybe a guy has a crush on me but also maybe he doesn't at all, and I got so drunk this weekend that I lost my sunglasses and dropped my phone so many times that I cracked the screen. And she's telling me that I have my shit together?

So I've been thinking a lot about what it means exactly to have one's shit together. While I would certainly never describe myself as a mess, I think the phrase "having your shit together" implies a certain level of polish that I definitely lack. Does anyone truly look to people who have embraced the leggings-as-pants look as role models? I feel like...no (seriously though - leggings are so comfortable okay JUDGE AWAY I DO NOT EVEN CARE).

Let's assume that this one friend isn't the only person out there who thinks I have my shit together. What is it about me, then?

Do I have my shit together because I'm punctual?

Do I have my shit together because I never bail on plans?

Do I have my shit together because I pay my bills on time?

Sure, these are all things that "with it" people do, but I didn't leave the house until around 5pm today, my hair is about 2 days overdue for being washed and today I ate a slice of pizza for breakfast, another one for lunch, and a third one for dinner.

So whoever died and made my friend - bless her heart - in charge of delineating who has their shit together and who doesn't, I thank you. Because I don't deserve it.

Or do I? I constantly find that my friends ask for me advice on stuff, and 2 weeks ago Cassie told me she was surprised that I had never considered being a life coach as a career path.

A LIFE COACH, YOU GUYS. As someone who cannot even find a date from the internet. Cassie, I adore you.

Okay, so I do admit that despite the ridiculous state of my life right now, I'm typically someone who is sort of on top of things. I'm good at returning emails and phone calls and my room is always pretty clean. And despite all of the crying I've done over jobs that didn't work out over the last 10 months, deep down I think I've always known that I'll be fine. Because I may not be on top of certain areas of my life (in fact, I may be drowning in them), but as far as my life as a whole goes, I have it together. I think.

It's comforting, to be honest. No matter what happens, I always know that I'll pull a Tim Gunn and make it work. And while I may lose alignment, I'll never lose control.

At least I hope

P.S. For those keeping track, yes, I clearly realize that I'm writing a post about how I have my shit together and it's a Stratejoy Monday post and I'm posting it on Tuesday. FAIL. But at least I wrote most of it yesterday.

**This is my new series called Stratejoy Monday. To learn more about all this goodness, see the first 5 months of my Stratejoy journey here.