The Reese Witherspoon effect!

I came across the tidbit on Reese Witherspoon today and it got me to thinking about the pressure women place on themselves and the need we still feel to "prove" ourselves to other people. Read it and see what you think ...

"Reese Witherspoon expects to spend the rest of her life striving to be accepted. She continually worries she is not good enough, adding her desire to work hard to show how special she is comes from her childhood.

“I have fear of being underestimated. I’ve always had the need to prove myself,” she said. “Growing up, a lot of my girlfriends’ ambitions were to get married and be homemakers. And that is completely wonderful for them – it was just never my ambition.”

Reese, 33, credits her paternal grandmother with instilling a desire to be successful in her. She taught Reese she could be anything she wanted to be from an early age. She also showed Reese the importance of a good education, leading to one of the actress’ biggest regrets.

“I don’t have a lot of regrets, but I do wish I’d finished college. It’s not just about the learning, it’s about discovering yourself. I’ll be telling my own kids to go to college,” she told Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.

The actress has previously spoken of her devastation at getting divorced, admitting she found the experience humiliating. She could not have got through it without her friends, who remain a huge source of comfort to her. “It’s tough being a woman. You are supposed to be self-sufficient, but we all need our sisters. I have three women friends who will drop anything to help me and I will do the same for them,” she explained. “I believe in those female bonds, because a lot of stuff happens with men and marriage and divorce, but family and friends are paramount.”

So what do you think? It amazes me that someone as successful, solid and smart as Reese still feels self-conscious about herself. It's heartening in one way to hear that she is a real woman with real insecurities like the rest of us, but it also makes me sad that she feels like she will spend the rest of her life proving herself.

Is that what makes successful people successful? That they never stop wanting to be better? Or is it a bi-product of the 21st century that we are forever chasing down a goal we will never reach?

What do you think?

Content courtesy COVER MEDIA, image from "Election"