Welcome to the world of a working woman a world where ambition meets reality, where dreams are chased and sometimes deferred, and where the delicate balance between career and personal life is a daily challenge. This diary is a glimpse into the lives of women who navigate the complexities of adulthood with grace, grit, and a whole lot of determination.

In these series, you’ll find stories that are raw and honest, touching on the different aspects of womanhood that many of us experience but seldom talk about openly. From the pressures of maintaining a career while nurturing relationships, to the internal struggles of self-doubt and the pursuit of self-love, this diary is a safe space where women share their personal lives, unfiltered and real.

“Tessy”

You know, being a working girl in her late twenties isn’t exactly the dream I thought it would be. When I was younger, I imagined this version of myself who had it all together killing it at work, in a relationship that felt like those rom-coms I binged, and somehow still finding time for myself. But the reality? It’s exhausting.

Let’s talk about work first. I always believed that if I worked hard enough, I’d find that perfect balance. But the truth is, I’m constantly trying to keep my head above water. Work is demanding endless deadlines, emails, meetings that could have been an email, and this unspoken pressure to be perfect. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve brought work home, or worse, spent my weekends catching up instead of unwinding.

But the real struggle? It’s navigating relationships on top of all this. Balancing a career is one thing, but trying to maintain a healthy relationship? That’s a whole other level. It feels like I’m always compromising. There are days when I want to just crash on the couch after a long day, but then there’s this expectation to be present, to be fun, to be everything to someone else when I barely have anything left for myself.

And let’s be real relationships in adulthood aren’t as simple as they used to be. They’re complicated, messy even. There’s this constant pressure to find “the one,” and everyone around me seems to be moving forward engagements, weddings, babies: and it makes me wonder if I’m doing something wrong. I find myself overthinking every little thing: Did I say the wrong thing? Am I being too needy? Not needy enough? It’s like I’m always second-guessing myself, and it’s draining.

Sometimes, I think about giving up on the idea of having a serious relationship altogether. I mean, I’m doing fine on my own, right? But then there are those lonely nights when the silence is deafening, and I find myself wishing I had someone to share it all with the highs, the lows, everything.

Honestly, the breaking point for me came recently. I was juggling a project deadline, and my partner and I got into this huge fight over something trivial. It spiraled out of control, and I found myself crying in the bathroom, wondering why everything feels so damn hard. I realized then that I’ve been trying to do it all be the perfect employee, the perfect girlfriend, the perfect adult, and in the process, I’ve lost sight of what I need.

I’m still figuring things out. Maybe I’ll never have it all perfectly balanced, and maybe that’s okay. I’m learning to set boundaries, to say no when I need to, and to accept that it’s okay to not have everything figured out. Relationships are important, but so is my well-being. And if that means taking a step back sometimes, then so be it.