By Emma Heaphy
My motto in life has always been to finish what I start. This has always applied to all aspects of my life: my work, my workouts, my cooking, my cleaning and social commitments.
Before motherhood, I would get frustrated if I was interrupted doing anything for myself without good reason. This had its benefits in that people who knew me well enough to marry me knew to stay away when I was on a mission and let my efficiency take its course. However, it was also to my own detriment. For example, as a solicitor I found it difficult to field calls when I was in the middle of drafting an affidavit.
Women are meant to be multi taskers I know, but for me, getting side tracked by more often than not an unnecessary phone call for something as simple as “I am just checking you received my email” was enough to make my blood boil and my never-ending list of things to do even more never ending.
This perspective has now had to change and this is probably (I’m not ready to say definitely) for the better. These days, everything I do is full of interruption. I can’t manage to put my clothes on in the morning, straighten my hair or get through a workout without having to cater to Lottie’s needs at some point throughout the process or sub her in for one of my dumbbells.
Some days, it just isn’t possible to finish some things I start and most days, it is not possible to finish everything I have started. The old me would have flipped out about this and considered the day a complete and utter failure (#Atypepersonality).
A few days ago, I woke up feeling great. Lottie had only woken up once in the night and more importantly (and often overlooked), so had I. I had the best of intentions for a productive day and wrote out my list of things to do that day which I envisaged completing all of before Lottie’s first nap at 10.30am.
I won’t bore you with the all the details but let’s just say the list included a mix of household chores and naturally some chores I had already completed just so I could tick them off (don’t pretend you don’t do that too).
Somewhat annoyingly, the chores all required more than one step (a mum’s worst nightmare), like soaking weetbix off bowls before the dishwasher #F***dish and baby poo off clothes before the washing machine #Sh**feast. For one reason or another (but all involving Lottie in some way, shape or form), the chores didn’t get completed and my list featured no extra crossed off items than commencement of the day.
