The first few months of my maternity leave were very tough – emotionally and physically. I spent these months getting to know my baby, trying to understand my new life, recovering from the birth, trying to do my best with feeding, all mixed in with lots of hormones.
At around about the four or five month mark, I found myself feeling more confident with being able to take care of my baby daughter (and being able to leave the house on my own with her!) and yet I found myself still being frustrated, thinking I wasn’t ‘achieving’ anything.
I know this is not true – I had a happy little girl to prove I was in fact achieving a lot!
I didn’t quite know how to overcome this frustration so I started to again do all the things that I enjoyed doing. I read, I started being creative again through my writing and art, I started exercising which I hadn’t done for a long time. I was starting to feel better because I was doing something for myself.
I love being productive with my time and I am passionate about learning, and I found I was still very passionate about my career. Perhaps even more so because I wanted to provide the best life I could for my new little family.
So I asked a friend of mine who is a consultant if I could do a project with her, and that’s where it began! A project came up within a month and so began my endeavours into the consulting world. It was an interesting project with a chance to make a real impact on a lot of people. I felt really motivated and enthusiastic…and productive!
I am now taking chances and really changing how I work. Projects are leading to other projects and I have a fantastic chance of growing my own business in this space.
Because I am able to do things I enjoy and I am feeling productive, I am happier and I’m therefore able to be more relaxed, calm and more patient with my daughter. She picks up on how I am feeling very easily so the more relaxed I have been the more relaxed she is.
I have also noticed that I really value every single second and I don’t like to waste even one minute now. I have a plan of how I’d like to spend each morning she is napping to ensure I keep up this positive feeling going. I admit not every day goes to plan but I know not every day will be the same and I can catch up on ‘mummy’ time either later that day, the next day, or the day after that.
I hope that your maternity year gradually becomes easier too as you progress through the months. I know it is difficult and I hope some of my learnings are able to inspire you to take care of your self more too. Allow yourself the time to do what you enjoy. You owe it to yourself and your family 😊
