Working from home is one thing. Working part time is another. Doing this so you can be with your preschooler is yet another. Doing this all effectively is the balancing act. I’ve been working contracts from my home since my daughter was born, so when I decided to go back into an “office” situation, I didn’t really know what to expect. What I did expect was that I would manage to do it somehow, as I have everything else in my life thus far. The fact is, the transition is difficult in ways that I didn’t anticipate. I’ve also discovered new passions and priorities I didn’t know existed in me previously, while at the same time being held back from fully going for them as I would have in the past. Yes, it’s hard to work a few hours in the office and then switch gears and go pick up my daughter and switch gears again later to work while she naps and back again when she wakes up, and back and forth every morning before she wakes up and after she goes to bed, when I get most of my “work” work done. But it’s honestly most frustrating to care about the work I’m doing, the people I work with and the company I work for and simply not be able to put in the hours or the mental capacity to contribute as much as I desire to and know I can. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in that position before, wanting to work MORE ;). On the homefront, I’m pleased that the schedule allows me to be there for my daughter outside of preschool and know that she needs preschool to prepare for kindergarten in a little over a year. However, when she’s crying and saying she’ll miss me every. time. I. drop. her. off… well, you get the picture. There is a bright side, however. I hold on (and my boss holds on) knowing that gradually over the next year, my daughter will be in school more and I will therefore be able to work more. For now, being barely full-time stretches the limits of my being able to balance these two crucial parts of my life in addition to managing to keep the house from becoming a total pigsty, cook once in awhile and actually talk to my husband once in awhile (who helps out tremendously), oh yeah, and sleep a few hours a night. Some days though, I look forward to when the reason I’m not getting any sleep is because of my 80 hour work week again. Life was so simple then.
Simonie
