Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
The most important thing for me personally was to learn to prioritise myself. In general, us women have a some difficulties putting ourselves first because we are natural caregivers, so learning that was challenging.
However, if I come from a place of exhaustion, I am not useful to anyone. Therefore, consciously taking care of myself through daily meditations, mindfulness and working with my Guardian Angels on a more spiritual level, is important for me to function as a woman, mother, and business owner.
I also learned to be comfortable when things don’t work out the way I want them to, because that’s part of life and there’s often a lesson to learn. Life becomes so much easier when we go with the flow of things.
Childcare is sometimes difficult to organise with my husband working full-time; however, as a business owner, I can work around my family’s schedule and often that means working until late at night. It comes with the responsibilities and as I do what I love with love, it doesn’t feel like work most of the time anyway. However, I do have to keep disciplined, focused and determined to reach my desired goals.
The drive: What challenges have you overcome?
The biggest challenge for me are the sleepless nights. My children wake up several times at night and need my full attention. The way I work around it is by simply scheduling appointments in the afternoon whenever possible so that I can catch up on sleep in the morning if I need to. Luckily things are getting better as they’re growing.
Sleep deprivation has caused me to make a poor decision and invest on a particular program. The sister company promised to make my business life easier. Unfortunately, there are many businesses out there that don’t provide promised services, and this was one of them. I had to learn to deal with the consequence, not take it personally and see it as a learned lesson.
For better or worse: What are the pros and cons of running your own business?
It is wonderful to create my own schedule and work around my family’s needs. I also love the fact that I decide who I want to work with. I choose my collaborators, the events I want to participate in and the clients I want to work with.
On the other hand, I have to control my thoughts and ensure I’m fully present with my children and don’t get distracted by work. I do have to work on most nights/weekends to get things done on time.
As a one-woman business, I must wear many hats and be a marketer, researcher, web designer, coach, content creator, etc. Even when I hire someone to do a certain task for me, I have to overlook it and ensure it’s being done well/correctly.
Hopes and dreams: What next?
As I transitioned from being a mom of one to being a mom of two, I am now ready to embrace the new me.
Motherhood is a transformational journey and as much as it is beautiful, it comes with many challenges. You can get easily lost between diapers, fevers, and sleepless nights. It’s very draining and in fact, I read a little while ago that it is considered to be the equivalent of 3 full-time jobs.
Imagine the strength, the energy and the willpower women have to exhibit to ensure their babies are well taken care of. Often, these women have a full-time job or a part-time job or run a business on top of running a household. There’s no surprise that women are suddenly ‘just’ a mom, ‘just’ a partner, ‘just’ a wife, ‘just’ a sister, ‘just’ a daughter and completely lose their identity.
I’m working on a new program that supports professional mothers who are ready to take on the journey of self-discovery with an open mind, focus, determination and desire to explore their own femininity and spirituality.
It’s a beautiful place to be because it’s like starting from scratch and literally creating the person you want to be.
Head over to the Mom to Be Sisterhood website and join their communities on Facebook and Instagram.
