Busy Mom Whoas

Being a mom is hard. A working mom is even harder. When not balanced properly working full-time, being a wife, a family caretaker, entrepreneur and mom can sometimes feel unbearable. This week has been one of the hardest balancing acts of my life. I found myself late Friday night contemplating all of the decisions I have made in regards to my family and career. If you know me you know I am constantly on the move. Every day brings new challenges and the balancing act of wife, motherhood, career woman is generally in full effect. With this balancing act comes lots of decisions and emotions, many of which drive your effectiveness. After dealing with a serious family situation I found myself back at work Wednesday trying to put all of my own life's pieces back together. The challenge had become not just taking care of my career and entrepreneurial needs but also making sure that my husband and daughters felt supported and taken care of and all of their needs. My go-to organizational system is a planner, I keep a planner with a calendar with me at all times. A phone is a great tool to use if you are not easily distracted, but for me there is just something about writing down a date and time that makes it stick in my head. With my week beginning so hecticly I failed to consult my trusty planner. Thursday and Friday were two of the most disorganized "mompreneur" days of my life. I started Thursday with an idea of how the day would go. I had to teach all day and I had a business meeting immediately after school. Since I didnt check my calendar I had forgotten that earlier in the week my husband and I have promised to get our oldest a new cell phone after work. No biggie its two of us we'll figure it out. Then the universe shifts in the form of my husband having to do mandatory overtime. With that revelation I would have to pick up my youngest from school and find alternative care for her while I'm at my business meeting on top of this I have been nursing a probable sinus infection and or tonsillitis for the past 2 weeks and decided that I should probably seek medical attention sometime soon.  Superwoman in me decided to plow through and guess what? Every single thing was taken care of. The oldest met me at work, the youngest was retrieved from school and I made the executive decision to take them to the business meeting with me. At first I felt bad that I couldn't even manage my own care systems at home so much so that I have to bring my daughters to a meeting with me. But I began to think of the positives. ONE: it was held at a restaurant so the girls got to have dinner that I didn't have to make. I set them at an adjacent table to where my meeting was taking place so they could observe if they wanted to but have the opportunity to have a little sister time as I was having the meeting. I no longer felt guilty about bringing them, but more empowered that they were able to see me conduct business. The meeting lasted a couple hours but the girls were generally ok. They weren't upset that my business endeavors had infringed on our mommy daughters time. Immediately after the meeting we went and got the new tricked out cell phone and while sitting in the phone store for what seems like forever I remembered that my youngest had a project due the very next day and that it was dress down day. I don't know about you, but the fact that my kid wears a uniform to school everyday just saves me so much time and energy when it comes to getting dressed for school. The thought of a dress down day is just a huge deal. It brings up thoughts like does she have any clean presentable clothes to wear to school tomorrow. We do some driving around to get supplies for the project finally get home and the youngest is asleep so there's no work happening on this project tonight on her part but mom on the other hand needs to at least get things organized and started so that she can do her part when she wakes in the morning. No time for a quick trip to the doctor for mom by the way. The next day was nothing short nothing short of a miracle. I woke up and cataloged all the things that needed to get done before the day was over. I said a small prayer for energy, patience and so-so health. Regular morning routine - wake up, wash up, get dressed, but with a twist. My youngest had a project to finish. We took a few moments to write out the project and practice her presentation all before leaving for school. In the car we had to finish the poster board so driving down Broad Street at every red light we are gluing and pasting and sticking fish decals and stickers and designs and glitter onto a large foam board. The bad mom feelings were coming back, but my child was genuinely smiling at the ridiculousness of it all and unpreparedness. I dropped her off go to work and then returned to her school for a lunch event. I go back to work teach some classes and advise some students and then returned to her school because they were let out early and then moved on to the next promised endeavor prom chaperone.  I promised students that I would be there so I had to make sure I was there. And I made it. I put on clothes, I found some makeup, I showered and brushed my teeth and I showed up. Prom is always a good time for kids and chaperones. I'm really happy I made it, but at that point I was running on fumes. The entrepenuer aspect of it all is that I had an event Saturday morning that I have been preparing for for months. The week prior had been a testament in my strength, endurance and reorganization of priorities. The planning for my personal project had become an afterthought to my family responsibilities, my day job and just life overall. While I was taking care of family business and day-job business and other entrepreneurial endeavors my event suffered. I woke up Saturday morning to cancellations and just general disregard and disinterest in the event that I had been working on for so long. It was disheartening but not completely surprising. Something had to fail. There was no way I could hold everything together without something falling through. All week long it felt as if I was holding up 8 pillars with two arms. I was figuring out how to get everything done and to ensure that everyone and everything was taken care of. Was I upset that my event was not successful? No. In the midst of an otherwise hectic week I was able to honor all of my commitments and see smiles on the faces of my children, my students, my family, my clients and my husband. This wife, mom, career woman, entrepreneur life is hard. In wanting to write this I was not trying to get a pat on the back for things that people do in everyday life. There are just so many nuances to all the roles we women play. There was a point during the day on Thursday that I wanted to cry from exhaustion. But I didn't. I really could have though and that would have been okay. I just did the things that needed to be done. I want to be an example. And in looking at just two days and my life I'm able to reflect on not only how blessed I am, but how normal I am as well. There is no secret it's just I keep pushing forward. I wrote these words down just to share a glimpse of my life, but also for any mom, wife, teacher, career woman that is struggling with the balancing act just know that you are not alone and all of your efforts are not in vain. Still haven't gone to the doctor yet. I'm working on it. On to the next day in this life...