Career vs. Relationship

Last week, I saw this image online. It really irked me and I had to share it on Twitter to see what some of my pals thought of the image. Luckily, their thoughts were very similar to my own; that it was ridiculous. 

This is the image I'm talking about. The one that states that "A career is great but you can't curl up with it when you're lonely at night". 

There is several things about this post that piss me off. Firstly, its the implication that a relationship is more important than a career. And okay, while for some people it might be, for other people it's not. Who is anyone to dictate to someone what should be a priority to them? If chasing your dream career is your number one focus in life, great. If settling down with the love of your life is your number one focus, brilliant. If it's neither of those, good for you. It's a personal opinion and totally down to each individual. 

Secondly, why does there have to be a competition? Why can't a woman (or a man, but given that it's a woman in the image, I'm going to speak as a woman) have both a determined attitude toward her career and also have a partner who she is happy with? Why is it apparently impossible for a woman to have both? I mean, speaking from personal experience, I know a lot of men are definitely intimidated by a woman with big dreams and a career driven mind, but that's a problem with the man surely, not the woman? 

Thirdly, no, you can't curl up with a career at night. But you can sleep alone in the house you bought, in your own Victoria Secret pj's in a lush double bed with designer bed sheets and a belly full of food and drink, smelling of Paco Rabanne perfume, all of which was purchased by you thanks to your man career.

Fourthly, you can have a career and a dog. Just saying. 

(You can also have a career and a man and so snuggling can definitely still commence). 

Lastly, the image itself. I don't get it- is this woman working with a pizza whilst naked? Looks pretty perfect to me! Is she chilling naked with a pizza and her partner who is taking the photo? Also a pretty perfect scenario. 

Ladies, don't let images like this try to tell you that focusing on a relationship is more important than focusing on your career. To be honest, don't let images like this tell you anything. As I said at the beginning of the post, it's up to an individual what they wish to focus on; if they want to focus on a career, fine, if they want to focus on a relationship, fine. It's actually no one else's concern or business what anyone else is focusing on. 

This image was posted by a man (honestly, I can't say that surprises me) and I think men (as well as some women, but particularly men) do need to be more accepting of the fact that nowadays, women's careers rank very highly in their list of priorities. Men shouldn't feel threatened by this; instead, they should celebrate it. It's definitely a very good thing. 

What do you think? Is there a battle between career vs. relationship? Should this battle even exist? Let me know in the comments below.

Love from,

Florence Grace