Nothing to be sorry for
Hands up if you’re winning at the summer holiday juggle! Nope….me neither.
Am loving the extra time together, obviously. And am also sending mega-gratitude vibes to Tim, my brilliant mum and MiL for stepping up and saving my sanity for a couple of days a week and at odd hours when I need to work.
It’s just not easy, is it? My work matters to me and I’m flying the flag for making work work for everyone. But I’m also honest about what a big task that is.
So far I’ve had one meeting or conference call each week where I’ve had a one-boy entourage and I’ve noticed something.
I’m still apologising for it.
Even though the women I was working with on those days are all mums. They get it 100%. There’s no need to be sorry; this is frequently the way of the mum trying to balance career and family.
And still, the reflex is to apologise.
We still got stuff done and I was still able to be present and focused. It’s not always possible when those gorgeous blue eyes are staring into my soul wondering why for that time he’s not the sole focus of my universe (#guilt), but I’ll carry on winging it.
Noticing how ingrained this family vs work mentality is in our generation of parents is so important because we are the ones who can change it.
Too many of us are apologetic about the fact we have a family when we’re at work and apologetic about our careers when we’re at home.
The pressure I felt when plans had to change and I had to make it work regardless is a cultural problem.
We can flex. We can make it work. It’s tough, but we’re a generation of creative, brilliant and informed people and we can find solutions that work for us.
But we need to stop saying sorry for trying to make it work. For doing our best.
We have nothing to be sorry for.
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