If you are a full time working mom like me, you are probably thinking “Yeah right! There is no such thing as balance. I’m just trying to get from one day to the next and get a little sleep here and there:)” I’m here to tell you it is possible and it is so vital to our overall heath and well-being.
Don’t get me wrong. Anyone who knows me well can attest to the fact that I work too much in most cases and need to take more time off. I come by it naturally as my mom is one of the hardest working women I know. As I have gotten older and my kids are now in their teens, or close to it, I realize more and more how valuable and important it is to find some sense of balance in my life. As much as I want to make sure I am always at my best professionally, it is even more important to be the best version of myself for my family. When work and stress take over my life, you can imagine what suffers as a result. I am notoriously bad at taking vacations. I work directly with clients in a service industry so naturally, I always fear something is going to go wrong while I am out. I know. I sound delusional in some ways. Who doesn’t love vacations? That’s definitely not what I am saying. Once I am there lying on the beach, toes in the sand and drink in hand, I have no regrets but the anxiety and stress that go into prepping and planning to take a little time off is insane sometimes.
One of my biggest fears as a working mom is looking back and regretting not being around more for my kids. I have learned that you really can have a career and balance life as a mom and wife but you have to really focus on taking the time to disconnect every once in a while. Even if this doesn’t always include an elaborate vacation, it can be as simple as a short trip to Starbucks, a long walk with a friend, or 20 minutes of alone time to enjoy a good book. Whether you are a working mom or not, we are natural multi-taskers. I talk to my sister-in-law about this all the time. We always have a minimum of 5 action items going on in our head at any given moment. I’m the mom who sits on a conference call at work while answering texts from my nanny to firm up the kids’ schedules for the day. It can be downright overwhelming and exhausting and I, for one, definitely have times where I reach my breaking point.
About a year ago, when my kids graduated from elementary and middle school, I had a realization that I only had 7 years left to enjoy with them. While I don’t like to live life on a countdown or view this as a negative, it was a real wake up call to stop and enjoy every moment. Take the afternoon off to go watch my son’s baseball game or pick up my daughter and her friends on a minimum day and treat them to lunch and an afternoon of fun. This mindset has helped keep me in check when committing to work events and ensuring that, whenever possible, they don’t conflict with my kids at all.
Having a successful career is something I am proud of but the greatest job God has given me is being a mom and wife and I want to ensure more than anything else that I can look back at the end of my life and know that my family was my greatest achievement in life. So, let’s all remind ourselves to take just a few minutes to refresh and recharge our batteries so we can be at our best in all aspects of our lives and truly find that balance we all long for.