As a mom, I often see articles when scrolling through Facebook about work/life balance for women. How to maximize your time, take care of yourself, etc. It’s exhausting because every article I read tells me I need to do self care. And yes I wrote a blog post about self care, however when do I find the time? My life, especially during the month of January, was work or mom duties. Not much time to do self care. Especially when my husband was traveling.
So why even write a blog post about this? Well because it’s important. I am working to try to find the right balance where I am not living on gallons of coffee and looking bleary eyed at my daughter as she’s showing me a toy or getting excited about Mickey Mouse or Muppet Babies that we’ve watched a million times already.
I don’t think a mom ever really finds the perfect secret of a balance, but really what works for her. So far I’ve learned that nap times are sacred work times for me. Those 2-3 hours where she is out like a light, I can get a ton of work done, and catch up on dishes or laundry and pickup the crazy amount of figurines that my daughter has strewn around the room. And the only way I’m able to get that work done is by being SUPER organized. When I say super organized, I mean I have post its, a planner, a calendar, and categorized emails and folders in my email to know what needs done and when. This may sound crazy, but it’s important for me. Otherwise I sit and stare at my computer screen or phone and think “uh, what do I need to do today?”. Or I play around on Facebook or Instagram so long that my precious work time is gone!
Once I tackle my to-do list and my daughter wakes up, it’s time to play. Running around the house to chase after her for “ticka ticka” (tickles), wrestle her for a diaper change, and plan dinner for the evening so my husband and I can get a little bit of time to talk about the day and the week ahead. While often I may forget what day it is, and ask my husband a million times if we have plans that weekend, I truly enjoy my days. The day in the life of a virtual assistant is exactly where I feel I need to be.
Photo courtesy of Styled Stock Society: https://styledstocksociety.com/