Today, January 2, 2019 is the likely the FIRST day, that I woke up, and made my child a hot breakfast before leaving for school.
One of my biggest challenges, with (I was going to say being an entrepreneur) having a career, is ensuring that I am giving my career and my child adequate attention. I’ve had a very demanding career for the last 10 years, and during some seasons, I’ve struggled with taking care of myself, because I was working so hard.
Throwing a child in the mix, shook things up a bit. Today, January 2, 2019 is the likely the FIRST day, that I woke up, and made my child a hot breakfast before leaving for school. Sue me, but she’s been eating school breakfast, for the last 3 years. Burnt out from working late hours and minimal sleep, my goal has usually been, to just get her to school before breakfast isn’t an option!
Balance has always been a sore topic for me because of work, and without the help of my mom (mostly), I don’t know how I’d do it. In hindsight, for two years my mom washed and folded my and my daughter’s clothes. She cleaned my home regularly (and still does whenever she’s here), so that I could have time with my daughter, when I wasn’t working. Outside of wanting to transition to full-time entrepreneurship, the most pressing reason I wanted to leave my corporate job was because I needed to spend more time with my daughter. I wanted to make time for the library, homework, or to simply enjoy a meal together.
I’ve had a very demanding career for the last 10 years…
Working and having a child (and family) is challenging because you want to continue to elevate in both arenas. You’re usually working to be promoted or to grow/sustain your business, and with motherhood, it is an ever-evolving job that requires continuous improvement and adjusting. I want my child to think back on her childhood, and know that she’s been a priority, that I took time to hug and kiss her, and to do meaningful things with her. My worse fear is that she will grow up to think that work was more important than her.
Over the last nine months, the biggest lesson I’ve learned, is that I have to be intentful and purposeful with my time! Ninety percent of the time, I work from home. So I’m still working all day, but planning my day/week/month includes planning time to spend with my daughter. I have set days, that we go to the library. Whenever she brings books home from school, I make sure that we read them at the dinner table. She gets about an hour to two of TV (mostly educational) every night, while I work, and then we try to get in bed at a decent hour. We pretty much do everything together, and on the weekends I can go really hard with working at least one full day, because she’ll stay with my mom, or her dad.
There is no perfect answer on how to balance it all. It requires adjustments, resetting, and effort; effort being the most important! Remember that your journey in business and in motherhood, is your own; and you don’t have to mirror any one else’s!