The Moment I Realized I Was Overdoing It As A Working Mom
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I’ve always been a person who loves to keep myself busy. My idea of relaxing is cooking a delicious meal, cycling to the top of a mountain, or baking my favorite dessert. I’ve never been the kind of person who sits around doing nothing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it is just not like me. Being someone who loves keeping herself busy, I knew I would make a great mom. I was prepared to be a full time working mom and did not want to take it easy because I knew I could handle the added responsibilities. But boy, was I wrong. To understand why and where I was wrong, let me take you a few months back.
I was handling my business from my home while taking care of a newborn. I would cook, clean, feed my baby, and put her to sleep while writing 4 or 5 blog posts in a week. Apart from the blog posts, I would also handle client calls and baby cries. I was hustling through the day, 24×7, throughout the week. I honestly believed I could do it.
After about two months of this lifestyle, I was physically and mentally exhausted. I needed to rest, but I told myself that it would pass. “Being a mom is not easy, and it takes time to get used to the added responsibilities”, is what I told myself. With balancing work life, motherhood, and taking care of the house, kids, husband, and myself, it’s bound to get tiring sometimes. I was sure that it’d pass, and I continued to hustle.
My day looked something like this. I would wake up at 4:00 a.m, prepare meals for the day and pack my toddlers’ lunch and snacks. I exercised for a bit, cleaned my house, and took a shower. Then I would drop off my elder kid at school and be back in time to feed my younger while my husband slept through the morning. He did not have to go in to work for the next two hours. I got back home and took care of my little one. Bathing, feeding, oil massage, and nap. Before I realized it was time for another feeding and nap. In between this hectic schedule, I would answer a few client calls and get some work done on my blog. By the time I was done with all this, it would be time to pick up my toddler from school. I drive her to piano class and back and help her with some homework or projects if she has any. Then I prepare dinner and have a few minutes to spare before I hit the sack.
After about four months of living around the clock, I decided to stop and take a break. I had to before I ran out of energy, both physically and mentally. I realized that being a working mom does not mean that I have to hustle until I have too much on my plate that I cannot handle. My husband and I decided to split household chores and kid duties. On days when I had to work late or wake up early, my husband would wake up early to take care of the kids. Other times, he would cook and clean so I can rest and recuperate. I continued to hustle, but this time I took some time off to rest because I needed it frankly, and the path I was on would have ended badly.
I wanted to share this with fellow working moms. We love our jobs and want to continue to hustle. We don’t want our kids’ responsibilities to come in the way of our career, and that is understandable. But do not forget to take some time off to rest. Your body needs it, and so does your mind. When you take up more responsibilities, you are bound to let some of them go. That’s the most significant learning I had when I realized I was overdoing it, and since then, I’ve been unstoppable!
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