I started out like many other working mothers believing that I could balance my work life and my family life. Unfortunately the more I sought balance , the more of a failure I felt like. As I continued to talk with more working mothers I had an A-HA moment—the problem wasn’t us, it was our attempts to find equilibrium between work and family.
You probably feel guilty, tired and stressed out because you’re trying to “balance” your work life and your family life and it’s an impossible feat.
There is no such thing as “balance! There is simply no way to split your life neatly into 50% work and 50% family.
Instead you have to prioritize your life. This means doing the things/activities that REALLY matter to you and eliminating the things/activities that don’t.
Over the next five days, I’ll share ways that I learned to live in the present and stop being a guilty, stressed out working mother. I’ve been lucky enough through trial and error to find some practices that have worked for me. Over the past few years, I’ve been sharing what I did to transform my life in such a short time with other working mothers.
The heart of my philosophy is that happiness and calm come from creating a life that mirrors YOUR values and beliefs—not your neighbors’, your family’s or your friends.
It means being willing to define success for your family and for your work on your own terms. It’s about exercising personal choice rather than chasing the elusive ”balance.”
You already know what you’ll get if you continue doing what you’ve been doing….so why not try something different?
Principle # 1 Identify your core values and goals
Your core values are principles or ideals that really matter to you. They are the foundation for creating a life that resonates with you—that brings you joy. This is in sharp contrast to a life which is just a giant “to do list” with a bunch of “supposed to” tasks. Your values steer your actions and determine where you spend time, energy, and most of your money. Most important, by identifying your core values you will be able to easily determine whether a particular action or activity forwards your goals—or not
If your interesting in working with me to improve the quality of your life as a working mother, please drop me an email at Yvonne@SophisticatedWomanandMama.com
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Great article. Life is all about priorities. You simply have to determine what is most important to you and work from there.
Thanks Britney—I just want women to begin to think with their hearts about what they and their families need. Also I’d love for women to stop worrying about what the pundits and experts are saying about parenting and motherhood. We are the experts for our children.
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