Diaries of a Working Mom
As some of you may have noticed (based on the adorable photos that have infiltrated my instagram) I had a baby 9 months ago. He is precious and sweet and adorable and I cannot imagine my life without him. Also, it has been the hardest transition of my entire life.
Here are some real thoughts and things I have learned in becoming a working mom in the last year:
1. Realizing Women are Superheroes
Ok I know I am focusing on motherhood here but I can’t really jump right into that without just acknowledging first that so many women have a really heavy load and are accomplishing SO MUCH that typically goes unnoticed or unacknowledged. Whether you are a mom or not, if you are a woman, I commend you. There is a lot working against us as far as health, work, hormones and barriers go. Just know if you are reading this I am cheering you on.
2. Embracing Seasons of Work & Motherhood
As a creative entrepreneur I am already juggling what seem to be a MILLION little things. I am a bookkeeper and marketing strategist, a designer, CEO and PR person. I am a social media manager and an executive assistant. Then add MOM to the mix and you’re looking at a whole new set of responsibilities!
What I am learning is that you will never truly have a perfect balance. Things won’t always get equal amounts of attention and that is OKAY. Just like anything, motherhood and business both happen in seasons, and in different seasons, different things will need more focus.
3. Navigating a New Identity
When you become a mom, you now have a HUGE new part of identity to carry around. When you see other moms around with children you relate to them in a way you didn’t used to. You go into departments of stores you never used to need to. You are interested in and consume content and media that you never used to either. It’s ok to take time for this newness to balance out, and you should never feel guilty about it taking over parts of your life and mind. It should! You are doing the amazing a difficult job of raising a whole person… and that’s a part of who you are now!
4. Letting go of Performance Metrics
When you run a business, are successful in your career or have a job you are passionate about you are probably used to being a high achiever. And once you are used to performing at a high level it can be HARD to let yourself take a step back. It’s especially hard if you are taking a step back because taking care of a small human takes a lot of time and energy that used to be devoted to your work, and can feel like a lot of unseen or unnoticed labor. You can start to think that the people around you might just think you are lazy or incompetent at your job.
Know this: this is a great time to let yourself be freed from the high expectations you set for yourself. As heavy and hard as it can feel, this season is actually so so short, and it is an opportunity to judge yourself less by your performance and more by your health, wellbeing and quality of life.