Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
It’s tough! Without the support of my family, my mum in particular, there is no way I’d have achieved what I have so far. In the last 18 months since my son was born I’ve moved interstate, started a new job (I am also a dental hygienist by profession), studied for my certification, started a new business and somehow found time to be a mother! Definitely my role as mother comes first and is by far the most important job I’ve ever had (and the hardest, and the most rewarding!). Usually nights are when I scramble to do reading or writing but it’s very unproductive for me as I’m so tired, so I also try to find time in the day when I can, such as lunch breaks or when my boy is napping. I do try and take time out for myself though with a 20-30 minute yoga session first thing in the morning (sometimes with a toddler crawling all over me!) because the balance of Yin and Yang really requires a clear-headed and centered me. When I don’t make time for myself each day it is a lot harder to cope with all of life’s pressures.
The Drive: What challenges have you overcome?
I think on the most part I’m pretty darn lucky in life. I think any challenges I have had to overcome pale into insignificance when I think about the suffering in the world around me at any one time. So I don’t dwell on challenges. Just like childbirth, I face them and I work through them as I know there is reward on the other side of hard work.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
Without doubt the pros include doing something I passionately believe in. How we start out in life, how we are brought into the world, matters. It matters for our baby’s short term and long term health. It matters for the mother’s emotional and physical health. It is not just about a healthy, live child. It is about the health of society as a whole. It is about how the mother was treated during her labour and birth, was she respected and in control or was control stripped from her? It is about how she feels about herself following birth, it is about her full experiences which will not only impact on her confidence to mother but will stay with her in detail for the rest of her life. How a child is brought into the world is important for the mother/baby and that is so important for successful breastfeeding.
Running a business that aims to empower women to have the best and most positive birth experience possible is extremely rewarding.
The cons are, the setting up the business part of things. Coming from a background of having zero business experience, and being particularly untech-savy, all those aspects are difficult for me and is a constant learning curve. And time! There is never enough time to work on things as much as I wish I could.
Hope and dreams. What next?
I would eventually like Empowering Births Australia to be my bread and butter. I would like to take my classes all around Sydney, especially to lower socio-economic areas or specifically target teen mums, single mums or mums from non-English speaking backgrounds. I want to be accessible to all, as this is the only way that real change can happen.
I am soon to begin my Certification training with DONA International to become an internationally certified doula (which is a professional childbirth attendant). I’m very excited about this as I know it will add to my knowledge base and expertise for my classes. With the certification I’d also like to volunteer my doula services to those who need it. Research clearly shows continuous support throughout labour leads to greater outcomes for mother and baby and I’d like to be that person for mothers who are alone on their childbirth journey.
I’d also like my son to look back at this time in our lives and say he is proud of me for following my dreams and that I was an example to him of what can be achieved with passion and hard work.
