Trying to Reach a Balance

Life is indeed a balancing act. Blessed with a wonderful family and career I oftentimes feel pulled in two- usually more like five- directions. My husband and I have a unique schedule right now while he is finishing up grad school. Two days a week he is the main care taker of our son and I am able to work from home, uninterrupted, during that time. The rest of week I’m mainly mommy, but always sneaking in work between nap time, the 2 mornings a week play group, and if I have any energy left in the evenings. Let’s not forget trying to maintain a tiny, but necessary, social like, plus shopping, cooking cleaning and having Shabbat guests. There is more but I don’t want to exhaust myself just thinking about all my various duties. But, like I said, all these things are a blessing (and having a very helpful husband makes everything much more manageable!).  I am thrilled with this stage of life and am enjoying every minute.

But sometimes its hard to balance it all and prioritize. I always dreamed of being stay at home mom while my children were young, just like my mother did. It has been such a joy being home and seeing my son grow and witnessing every milestone. Somehow though I realized that my little part time job had somehow developed into an actual career. But I wanted to postpone this career thing until the kids were all in school! Now what? I love the work I do and I’m beginning to see the value of being a working mom- you truly learn to enjoy your time with your kids once you are done working for the day! And let’s not forgot how nice it is to be part of the bread winning team.

So now I’m working on striking a balance. Some weeks are easier than others, depending on the needs of work and home that week, and other weeks I’m not sure what I’m doing. The funny this is is that once I get used to the current situation I know everything will change again. So, I’m learning to be flexible and thank G-d its coming together. I’m learning how to multitask and make sure I’m taking care of me all at the same time. At the end of the day my family always takes precedence and I’m thankful that I have other outlets to keep my brain from turning to mommy mush.

I really enjoy listening to Rebbetzin Heller’s Q&A series on Naaleh.com where she discusses how, as women, we can Achieve a Balance in life. In this class she addresses a number of interesting questions from the Naaleh students, one question in particular about how woman connect to their role in the home: