Today two of my closest friends had to tell me multiple times not to be too hard on myself. I'd made an error that had definite repercussions. Of course, I apologised profusely. I am now adult enough to acknowledge when I am at fault and to immediately do what I can to remedy my wrong.

Yet, even after I managed damage control, I continued to punish and persecute myself, which cannot possibly be healthy.It's not that I feel like a failure. It's that on a daily basis, I expect more of myself than is womanly possible to deliver. I am frequently unfair to myself in terms of my own demands and expectations and I'm unable to explain the source of this urgency I feel to always be efficient and productive. There is a part of me that thinks that when it comes to work, I have over-exposed myself to a very misogynist view of my own labour, which I invariably internalised. I strive to over-achieve, sometimes at the cost of my own sanity.