What’s harder than running a small business? 
That’s easy. Running a business while raising children is harder than anything most of us will ever do.
And as a working mom, the expectations heaped on you seem impossible.
Who else has to deal with a work call while calming a crying baby and cooking dinner at the same time? Only working moms. We constantly multi-task because, well…we have no choice.
Here are three truths about working mom life that sum it all up.
When you’re a working mom, guilt hangs over you constantly. No matter how much you do each day, there’s always more on your list that you just can’t get to.
Maybe you were late for an important meeting because someone woke up crying in the middle of the night. Maybe you had to miss out on the bedtime routine for a couple of nights because you had to work. Or maybe you’re agonizing over that pile of laundry that’s been sitting on top of the dryer for weeks.
The feelings of guilt and worry can be overwhelming but remember that you’re just one person. There are limits to what you can accomplish in the course of one day. There will be times when things slip through the cracks, and that’s just reality.
Also, take a second to give yourself a pat on the back! While it doesn’t all get done, there is plenty that we accomplish in a day. Don’t lose sight of the (even seemingly small) wins and accomplishments throughout your day and look for ways to continuously improve and become more efficient.
You lost many things when you became a working mom: time to yourself, dinners out with friends, the chance to use the bathroom without interruption.
But you also gained many things, and one of these is a powerful sisterhood of other working moms. They can be your biggest support network.
So don’t hesitate to reach out to your sisterhood. Make it known that you are a working mom through your social media and website, and you’ll be surprised how many other working moms will actively work to empower you.
The working mom network offers the possibility of rewarding partnerships, collaboration, and even friendship.
Besides that, working moms are by nature creative problem solvers (because they have to be). With a network of working moms, you can do just about anything, from establishing a babysitting coop to organizing a farmers’ market.
We all fantasize about the days when a mother’s only job was to focus on raising children. But the reality is that for most of us, that world is long gone. Your kids, like you, will eventually have to face a world in which parents work just as hard as everyone else. But this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be empowering.
By watching your skillful navigation of the problems and conflicts of working mom life, your kids will learn the value of hard work, flexibility, and resilience. And those are excellent qualities for them to take into the world someday.
Working mom life is one of the most challenging experiences anyone can have. But while each day brings new challenges, it brings more than its share of joy, too.
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