One of the most used and overused topics is working mothers talking about trying to strike a balance between their work and family lives. I have been working for 20 years, mothered for 6 years, and I am here to tell you; Forget about striking a balance, just do whatever is suitable and feels right given the situation you are in.
It is OK
I tried it all, stable mid-income jobs that promise no career growth and non-stable good-income contractual jobs that give all promises of power and progress, while the 1st type of jobs gave me much more family time, I couldn’t settle for them as I felt I have a lot of potential to grow and produce. Such jobs simply didn’t have the space or the capacity for me to thrive.
The 2nd job type per say is more challenging (especially when it comes to dealing with different mindsets) and it has taken much more considerable amount of my time, which gave space for my ambition to grow and display its best powers, but family wise I barely have time to sit with my kids or the energy to support their growth in the world full of opportunities we live in.
I read self-improvement books (still do). They make me wake up early, exercise and develop myself even more before any of my family members open their eyes to embrace there days, I get exhausted from time to time but wouldn’t skip my morning routine for the world.
Tried to see friends at night and strengthen my social circle as well as my relationship with my husband and my wellbeing but this makes me skip my morning exercise sometimes.
And this is OK
- Waking up at 5:00 am
- Exercising while listening to books
- Dropping the kids to school (mostly late)
- Going to my self-achieving non-stable job (also late)
- Making it to the parent-teacher meeting (also late) to hear that my kids would do better if they had family support at home
- Coming back home barely in time to read them bedtime stories (always late)
- Putting the kids to sleep while being utterly tired (always)
All of this seems like a lot to take in, maybe a recipe for bi-polar tendency.
But it’s OK. I am trying hard and nothing in this life is perfect.
Maybe there is a magic formula, but I didn’t figure it out yet, at the age of 38 I didn’t find the path of combined career & motherly satisfaction and I don’t want to any more. We are surrounded with bliss and thankful for it.
This is more than OK.
