pre kids and pre owning my own drafting&design company i was very goal orientated and had extremely high expectations of myself and where i was going with my life.
i now know that while it was good to have those goals, i made myself very guarded and the expectation of perfection was beyond reality.
i am also realizing that those expectations on myself has left me disappointed at times and burnt out, and when you burn yourself out it takes a long time to recover from it.
When i started my own company i had very young boys... and i made the mistake of working 10-14 hours a day, plus because i was a "stay at home" mom running my company from my home office i did not set clear goals in the beginning and didn't realize the importance of doing so.
i thought i could add in a full time job and still parent my boys with stellar abilities, crafts, and events.
my house i thought would still be amazingly clean all the time after all i am at home
i thought i could still prepare creative and nutritious meals, be an amazing wife, have routine girls night out where we could go shopping and wear the latest fashions. i would stay ubber slim (while having no time to exercise at all and pretty much affixing myself to a desk chair).
i would be an amazing sister, daughter, volunteer and friend by sending everyone cards and notes of encouragement.
what a nut i was!!
even though i think i have finally started on the road of balance between work and home i see now that i simply burnt myself out and because of it i still find myself very easily depleted emotionally physically and creatively.
everyone is different and some women find themselves able to set those boundaries right away (made easier with proper supports in place) and for those moms i really do applaud you !!
for those moms like i was who are not sure how this working from home thing is going to go and really going into it thinking the can still do it all, and not putting those supports in place prior to getting started... i really wish to encourage you to let yourself be humble and ask and accept help from those around you who can help.
i also encourage you to set definite hours for work and definite hours for everything else. i know i thought working evenings after the boys were in bed would be a good idea, but i see now that because my job required me to be creative that winding down and shutting off those creative thoughts is a process and falling asleep is not part of that process. so for me i know working during the day is necessary, partially due to the creative nature of my work and my inability to leave a project midway and unfinished (hence often working till 2am)...
so i encourage you to really look at who you are, the nature of your business, your supports (that you need to have in place - a supportive spouse is number one both emotionally and physically (ie laundry, cooking, cleaning))
and setting clearly a day off a week for you to do all those house things like groceries, appointments, etc (this day is in addition to another day(s) like saturday and Sunday as you will need that just for family and you time).
wow!!! now this was not at all where i was planning to go with my post this morning, but i know there are a lot of us moms out there who are trying to find the balance between keeping our careers (or starting new ones), our husbands, our kids, and keeping a home... so i encourage you to do what brings you joy everyday, but be mindful and cautious of your limits (and maybe learn from my misjudgments of what is humanly possible for one woman to do)... and to quote princess bride...
"if you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything"
so my new goal this month...
to drink my coffee hot! not luke warm and previously reheated 5 times (seriously i do that a lot), but not today, not anymore... i want to drink my coffee hot and enjoy moments as they happen, which means being present here and now.
my thought when i started this post was to share a couple project pics that i am working on this week as i feel very blessed to do what i do...(also i don't think i have ever posted pics of my projects before)
so here is to doing something new on the ol'blog
i hope your day is productive and energizing!!
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