(I’ve been following you for a while, and can I just say I love your writing style.)

I try to remember life before kids, the pressure to be amazing at everything, but it’s so distant. Familiar, but vague.

As a mom, the pressure resurfaces as have it all or do it all, depending on the day. It’s more urgent because it’s now, and being a mom does fuel the drive to build a better world.

The irony is the bigger the career, the more you can offer your kids, but there are so few paths that provide a big career and big money and time and location flexibility, which is what motherhood demands, so you feel mediocre even if you’re doing both.

I guess what I’m trying to say is the pressure feels real, but it’s mostly bullshit. You don’t have to give in to other voices, especially if they don’t align with where you’re going or what you want. You probably don’t need that pep talk, but maybe someone else does.

Mediocrity is a moment, not a life goal. The ones worried about it likely have nothing to fear. The ones drowning in it are probably too busy drowning to worry about semantics.
And for the ones ok as they are, that’s not mediocrity; that’s self-acceptance, and it’s a beautiful thing!