Fans of A Feminist Sensibility will notice my radio silence over the past two weeks. Without being overly specific, my professional life has taken a little detour down Route Crazy and I’ve been spending most of what little free time I have trying to cope with this new reality.

I’m not complaining, mind you. I love my career and I’m extremely passionate about what I do. However, no matter how professionally stimulating the last two weeks have been, I’ve spent most of my time feeling guilty.

Why guilty? Well, because I have been traveling and working long hours at my job, I have been neglecting other things, like housework, time with my husband, and obligations like writing for Curiata.com. Now, being the modern urban gentleman that he is, Mike has not said one word about the dismal state of disrepair of our house, and he has, in his own way and by his own definition, done his part to keep it “clean.” He also works in the same field as I do (politics), so he understands that until the state budget is signed into law, I’m stuck working late nights.

Thankfully, even though I work long hours during the week, the weekends are my own. However, this does nothing to help the guilt factor. Last weekend, the MUG and I took our dog for a nice, four-mile jaunt in a local park that has some decent hiking trails. Instead of getting a head start on my duty to my legions of readers, I chose to spend time with my family. While I don’t regret that decision, I do, nevertheless, feel guilty that I shirked that responsibility to myself, my colleagues, and all of you.

I feel guilty for a whole host of other reasons, too — even something as menial as not making enough time in my life for fitness. I’ve always expected great things from myself, including impeccable time management skills. My mother once said to me, “Carrie, no one in this world would be as critical of you as you are of yourself. You have to learn to be kinder to yourself and let things go.” She was and is right. But learning to let go and accept that I can’t do it all is something that I still, obviously, struggle with.

In her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, the chief operating officer of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, dedicates an entire chapter to the myth of having it all. Throughout the chapter, she regales us with stories about how she tries to balance a career and being a wife and mother. It’s stories like these that make me simultaneously feel better and worse about my frustrations. If someone like Sandberg has struggles, it’s acceptable that I do, too.

Then there’s that little voice inside my head that says, “but you don’t have kids yet … it’s only going to get worse.” And while that’s probably true, the fact remains that the childless and partnerless women in this world still struggle with the feeling of guilt. Women will either feel guilt because they don’t have a partner or children, or they’ll feel guilt because they are probably neglecting their partner and/or children in some way that is ruining their lives.

I could blame the media for inundating us with images that portray women who have it all. I could blame the advertising industry for telling us that if we just had X product, we’d be able to have it all. But in reality, while these things can influence us, they do not control us. Only I can control how I feel about things.

So from today forward, I invite all other women, whether they consider themselves feminist or not, to join me in resolving to be kinder to ourselves. I resolve to stop feeling guilty and beating myself up if I miss a workout, or dinner with my husband, or loading the dishwasher. I resolve to stop trying to “do it all” and will instead focus on “doing what I can.”