When I wrote my second book, The Myth of the Perfect Girl, I interviewed many pre-teens, teens and young adult women on the particular challenges of today’s world. I also benefited from having over a decade of experience working with young people on the unique aspects of today’s always on, all the time culture. When I first started my work, there was no Facebook, Tumblr, or Snapchat. Friendster and MySpace were relatively new additions, and it was okay for email to go a day or so before being checked.
One of my favorite parts about writing this book was working with the young women who offered to be readers of the book. So many saw themselves in the book, and one young woman – then a college sophomore at a highly selective school – proclaimed, “This is the book that really discusses what everyone is dealing with but no one is talking about.”
One mom emailed me a few months after the book first came out to say she read the book intending to read about ways to help her daughter, but found herself recognizing things she did and said – and that it made her feel highly uncomfortable to come face to face with such obvious and painful truths. “Imagine how I feel,” I replied, “Writing the book made me feel as though I re-lived my adolescence, and once was quite enough, I must admit!”
So I am really excited to be presenting in NYC on The Culture of Perfectionism: Understanding and Overcoming the Unique Stress of Our High Stress, High Impact World. The talk is sponsored by the Duke Alumni Association, and really addresses the issues we all deal with as young women, older women, mothers, daughters, and anywhere in between. The talk will be about 45 minutes long, with time for Q&A, and it is meant to be a practical, prescriptive understanding of the world we live in today, and offer customizable solutions to redefine success on our own terms.
If you are interested, please register here and join us!
