Today I was thankful for squeezing in time to run and shower in the middle of the day.
This is the first year I am a working mom on spring break with 3 kids home. Luckily one can drive and is really helpful. I am thankful for a flexible schedule that allows me to integrate work and play all day.
Life is good.
Do you ever have a word that just resonates with you?
I was talking about trying to figure out how to balance work and family and personal interests, as I transition into my “new” job. I was asking for advice from my friends and one person said to prioritize my kids as they grow up too quickly. Another one told me not to focus on balance and that balance was a myth. She recommended that I search for a rhythm that works for me.
Huh.
I’ve never thought about life like that, and searching for my rhythm. When I think of rhythm, I think of flow and peace and things being in sync. There are highs and lows, soft sounds and loud sounds and harmony and the elements work together to create something great.
Thinking of defining the rhythm of life, at this moment, was peaceful to me and helped me to frame the transition that I’m experiencing. This is my word of the week.
What word resonates with you?
nAMaste
Going back to work has made me a lot more efficient with my time and it’s fascinating how much I can get done in a compressed amount of time.
When you don’t have pressure to get things done quickly, you simply don’t. Or at least, I don’t. Typically, I like to flow with the day and to not rush and to get things done in a more relaxed fashion.
Before as a full time stay at home mom, it would take me all day to get out of bed, clean the house, workout, shower, make dinner, shop, run an errand or two, check email and social media channels and perhaps volunteer or meet a friend for coffee or lunch before my real job began at 2:30 when the kids came home.
Now that I’m working, I have become more efficient with my time and get things done compressed all together consecutively at once.
For example, this morning I had coffee, read the paper, made lunches, cleaned the kitchen and made dinner before showering and driving Juliana to school at 8 am. By 9:30, I had gone to the car dealer, stopped at the store to buy suede spray for my boots, sprayed them, did my hair and makeup and stopped at the dry-cleaners on my way to work.
I worked my half day and then went shopping for the holidays with the last half of the afternoon before joining the kids back at home at 5:30 pm, thanks to the carpool friends. I sorted through the mail, wrote a check for a school event, caught up again on a few work emails and warmed up dinner before heading out for the evening date and appointment with Juliana.
If I want to get my work hours in and keep my personal life and house life running, I have to plan ahead and utilize all the minutes and the hours. I tend to like this pressure because I seem to get more done. I do miss the carefree days, but not as much as I am enjoying working.
So for now, life is good – working part time and figuring out the work/personal/volunteer/home life balance.
How does your life flow? What works well for you? Are you happy with your balanced or unbalanced days? I’m curious.
Wishing you well. nAmAste. xoxo
What do you love?
I love to be busy, yet not this busy. I had a productive and satisfying day and I am exhausted. You’ll see why and I’ll probably exhaust you just by reading this crazy list. Maybe just skim it – it’s kinda long! Below are some of my different made up titles. I don’t use them every day, just today happened to be on fire.
Alarm Clock Sounder – Roused the kids up bright and early. They have their own alarm clocks, but for some reason they don’t always react to them. And the train has been waking me up every morning at 5:17 am!! What’s up with that?
Breakfast and Lunch Maker – We don’t have time together in the evenings as frequently due to our crazy schedules, so this Fall I’ve started making hot breakfasts for us. It’s my moment to bring us all together and I don’t mind the extra work or dishes because it’s so worth it. Today we had hash browns, scrambled eggs, apple slices and bacon. I have a weekly rotational schedule and the kids were already reminding me that they’re excited for pancakes tomorrow morning.
Taxi Driver – 2 kids dropped off at high school, 1 husband dropped off at the train, and 1 child dropped off at the middle school, all before 8 am.
House Cleaner – Stopped back at the house to load the dish washer, scrub the pans and to start a load of laundry before heading out to exercise. It feels good to me when the house is in order.
Yogini – Picked up ML on my way to yoga and enjoyed a blissful hour of stretching and toning in a not-so-great-room-with-an-awesome-instructor!
Worker Bee – I got a new part time job!! I had my first “official” business meeting at a coffee shop today and it dawned on me, that I haven’t had a “real” or let’s say “paid” job in over 15 years!! Change is good.
Friend – We celebrated my friend’s birthday over lunch today. It’s great to have a flexible schedule and to have an excuse to stop what you’re doing to spend time with friends over good food. I also loved seeing my friends throughout the day and sharing moments in person, via text, and on the phone.
Shopper – On the way home from lunch, I stopped by the store to buy perishables for dinner tonight. Google Express is doing all the rest of my shopping and giving me so much time back!! I was in and out in 20 minutes, only having to buy the perishables and everything else was delivered to my door step. Have I mentioned how much I am loving GE? You have to try it if it’s in your area.
Chef – While I came home to squeeze in a bit more work, I also started dinner. We had stuffed baked potatoes tonight with proteins, veggies, and other savory toppings.
Life Coach – I spent a lot of time today coaching my kids on some important life lessons that weren’t easy to teach and take some time to practice. Being a parent takes lots of patience and open communication and repetition and more patience and practice and more practice. We’re always learning and failing and trying again, perfectly, imperfectly.
Taxi Driver – Round 3 – Did a 3rd loop around the city chauffering my loved ones back and forth to our nest.
House Cleaner – Round 2 – Came back home to clean up the cooking dishes and to sort and fold laundry before heading out again. It’s amazing what one can get done in 30 minutes.
Volunteer – After having very little sleep last night, and by the time 6;00 pm came around, I was exhausted. It took everything in me to rally and go to my event tonight. Once I got to the parking lot and ran into a friend, I remembered why I love to volunteer. I love my community and sense of belonging that volunteer opportunities bring to my life. I loved seeing my friends and having that time dedicated to working together for a common purpose.
House Cleaner – Round 3 – The evening house patrol involved the usual chores and involved all of us and gave us a few minutes to chat and connect. Even the evenings are busy for us.
BeLoveR – I loved kissing my little one good night, brushing my daughter’s hair and complimenting my oldest on his successes today. I loved taking this fun picture of my husband with our new fur baby that won’t leave his side while he works at night.
Today was good. I am done. How was your day? I hope you lived it up, laughed out loud and loved yourself and your one, beautiful and maybe messy life. N-Ahhhhhhhhh-ma-ste!
I’m a working mom.
I had to give up a business trip to San Diego this week because I was too busy and didn’t have anyone to take over my workload. It’s ok because I love my job and I have the best clients.
Today started with a coaching session at 6:30 am, after closing last night at 1:30 am. Morning came too soon.
At 7:45, I began chauffeuring another one of my clients to his practice, only to return 90 minutes later to give him a ride back to the office.
I had a community networking meeting at 10 am, on the tennis court. This was one of the highlights of my day.
At 11:45, I managed the repair process for one of our machines, also known as a vacuum cleaner. I quickly moved on to my next appointment at the paint shop, consulting new colors and picking up samples for one of my client’s remodeling projects.
I had to hurry back to the office for a lunch meeting with colleagues from Amsterdam. We chose to eat out lunch outdoors on the back veranda to enjoy the California weather and sunshine, which is always such a gift.
This meeting was productive and was a win win. :-). We enjoyed the team building activities with our youngest clients too.
I had to leave my lunch early to chauffeur my client again. I think he appreciated the service, but complained of his drop off location. He was late on his return, so I think they call that balance.
My client asked my to stop for refreshments, and of course I obliged. I want them to be happy you know.
On the way back to my home office, I had to make another office visit. A lot of my work is done out in the field.
I stopped by another client’s office to discuss work plans for tomorrow. We brainstormed on best practices to achieve high client success and I believe came up with a good strategy.
I offered to take my client’s client out for a few hours, for some entertainment and a break.
Life is good. I love this job.
I decided to share my chef skills with my clients and invited them to partake in my sushi making class, free of charge. We enjoyed the process of creating and eating homemade sushi together. This was a fun and simple course, providing great team building opportunities and leadership. I think I will offer this class again in the future.
Before the evening ended, my clients decided to throw an impromptu dance party. These people know how to party!!
After they left, I cleaned up the kitchen and was invited to a snuggle party, which is why I have to leave you so soon.
It’s been a very productive day and I think I’m up for a raise soon.
Hope your work day was wonderful too.
Namaste.
There is a lot of discussion right now about the mom title and it makes me quite curious.
For some reason, people struggle with the title and are looking for a new term to describe stay at home moms.
My favorite title is just mom or mama.
We are all mamas – whether paid or unpaid, working inside the home or working outside the home. We are all working moms and we are all full time moms. We are all the same. We are loving moms.
We are all homemakers or domestic goddesses and we do our best and are so lucky when we get to choose how best to support our families. Some of us are maybe more efficient than others. Some of us have more free time. Some of us have more meaningful experiences. Some of us do our shopping and cleaning during the day and some in the evenings or on weekends. We are all working and we all love our kids.
Whether you stay home and work or go to an offsite workplace, we are both the same and I like you, mama! xoxo
Namaste
Working mama! 🙂
here i am 