Two blog posts in one day, this can only mean one thing... I'm procrastinating!!
This is not about my book or my writing process so feel free to click off now. As the title suggests this is a short post about being a working mama and writer.
Growing up, my mum was really hard- working, single parent, working several jobs to keep everyone healthy, happy, fed and clothed and she made it look easy. So, I had never considered not working or not having children, they were both just always on the 'to - do list of life'. As, I got older and my friends and family started having children of their own and went back to work, I saw and appreciated that it wasn't as easy as my mum managed to make it look, but I never once thought 'Oh my god I'm going to struggle'. I was confident that I could do it.
Then in May 2019, I had my little boy and spent weeks and months dreading going back to work and putting him in nursery. I just wanted my year off with him to last forever, but looking after him is a full-time job so it wasn't long until I started to question how exactly I was also supposed to hold down a full time job while looking after him and making sure that his needs were met. Everyone kept telling me that it would be fine and everything would fall in to place.
Then, corona hit and my maternity leave ended and was abruptly replaced with working from home which was awful, I could see my little boy craving my attention but I had work to do. I was working on site a few days a week and that was a nice balance, but I started to wish I was going back to part- time work so I still had quality time with my son. Then, the 6 weeks holidays came along and I was elated that I was going to be able to spend another 6 weeks with him before I started working full-time.
Then, on the first day of the Summer holidays I got a call and I was offered a book deal and I felt a shift within myself. My priorities suddenly changed from needing to be with my son every second of every day. I found that I didn't need to be with him all the time, I just needed to make sure he was happy, safe and thriving, and to do that I needed to be happy, safe and thriving too. For me to be thriving it meant not missing the opportunity because 'it's not the right time', it meant following my dreams and still being the best mum that I could be.
So, I decided to start his nursery journey early, this was not a decision that I made lightly, I felt so guilty. Mum guilt is not fun! I settled him in to nursery part - time at first, so that he could adjust to the transition (and of course he handled it like the boss baby that he is) and I actually had nothing to worry about. In one way, it was a blessing because it would have been a shock to the system, (his and mine) if we had both just gone in full - time in September, as originally planned.
So it's been 6 weeks of part - time nursery, part - time - quality time with my little man and part - time writing. Tomorrow, I'm back at work full-time and I will still be writing my book in the evenings and at the weekends while looking after my little one and giving my all to my class. I've essentially taken on even more work than I was worried about in the first place as writing is another full - time in itself, it's going to be tough but I'm determined to make it work. I'm not the first mama to work, raise a child and follow her dreams and I definitely won't be the last.
Shout out to all the mama's working hard, following their dreams and raising boss babies!
Also, shout out to all the dads, grandparents, family members and friends doing the most and helping out with raising those boss babies - you are appriciated!
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