You hear it all the time. Everyone is always seeking that work life balance. I still struggle daily on how to balance being a wife, mom and entrepreneur. How do we manage it all? Where is the balance? Does it even exist?
As a mother of a 3 year old my life is really consumed with him and making sure that he gets everything I have to give him. I want his toolbox filled to the max with everything he needs to be successful at this point in his life.
I quit my full-time job to be a stay at home mom and take care of him during these few years before school starts. I also started my business. Now I know you might be thinking why would you start a business when you quit your job to be a stay at home mom? Well I also still needed to make some money and build my brand during this time. I never wanted to end up with a gap of 5 years missing on my resume if I did decide to go back to work. I still want relevant design experience and I must continue to work on my craft.
So here I am. I'm almost 3 years in and so far it has been stressful and rewarding but also a lot. A lot of work on all aspects of this life that I have created for myself. I do like to be great at what I do no matter what it is. Sometimes I feel like I have to give up on something to be great at all of these things. There isn't a way for me to be a great wife, mom, and business owner without neglecting someone or something. The person usually getting neglected is me.
What does balance even mean... it is a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions. I can't 100% say that I have mastered this. I'm not even sure I can. No one knows what each day has in store. I wake up and I do my best. Sometimes my best is making sure I hold my baby during nap time because my days of this will be over soon. So what if I take a nap or binge watch a tv show while I hold my son for these last moments. I didn't want to miss out on these moments. Yes I know I have clients and work I can be doing during his nap time but I will enjoy it until I can't anymore. The time I get with him will never be the same. He will only be this age once.
So it becomes more of my priorities. What is the most important thing to me at this moment? Spending time with my family. Time is important it isn't replaceable. Once it's gone it's gone forever.
Every role that I have taken on requires a lot of my time and I get overwhelmed sometimes and just have to sit down and unplug. As a woman we have so many things that we carry on our backs everyday. It often gets overlooked and taken for granted, all that we do to manage the household and keep evryone happy. It's definitely not a job for the weak.
If you are all of these things plus more and you have figured it out please share but as for me I'm taking it day by day and showing up when I can and loving on me a lot more this time. I do believe if I don't take care of myself I won't be able to put my best foot forward when I have to. To all the women who bust their butts everyday I see you and I hope everyone who you care for and show up for sees you too.