motherhood Archives -

#30: Work-life balance for moms

Work-Life Balance for Moms
In this episode you’ll learn the reasons why it’s so tough to balance out all the things related to motherhood, work, homelife and our own personal goals. First off, I’ll give you a glimpse of HOW to balance things out using the insight from an article I recently published. Then I’ll also talk about my secret strategy when trying to prioritize the ever-growing to-do list and gain some perspective on what’s eating most of your time. Finally, you’ll get access to a free resource I created to help you get super clear on what to do next.

Basically, I guess it’s fair to say this episode’s going to be like a free mini training for how to deal with the very challenging work-life balance. So you’ll want to grab a pen and a paper, my friend, to take notes. Or, you can save this episode, listen to the replay and get to work.
Work-life (im)balance
We all know as a mom we play many roles: chef, driver, counselor, referee, judge and jury, therapist, friend, builder and finder of toys, artist, teacher, etc. It’s constantly changing from one moment to the next, and often without notice.

Ironically, we have all the answers to problems, struggles and challenges. But at the same time, have no clue what to do, or what we’re even doing for that matter. Motherhood is a constant push-pull on our emotions, energy, patience… and it’s all worth it. Because this whole adventure is for the most beautiful and wonderful creatures on earth, our children!

For these reasons alone, there’s no doubt the toll on our mental load is quite heavy. Oftentimes, we get the short end of the stick. But we keep going and push through it all. In essence, it all comes from love. Now, if you ask any mom out there, anything short of a 100% effort on our part results in guilt and/or worry. This vicious cycle of selflessness, joy, love, guilt and worry is far from healthy and putting it out there like this, just raises the question, why? Undeniably, mothers would walk to the ends of the earth for those we love most.

With the joys of motherhood, come the challenges of having to balance everything out: all the things involving the kids, the house, our relationships with others, our passion projects, trying to fit in our own personal needs and then there’s our regular job!

How do moms get a better work-life balance?

Establish Your Time

Podcast #17: Let’s Talk Mental Health – Stop Spreading Yourself Too Thin

Dianne / May 5, 2022

When I became a mom and went through all the first time mom-feels: joys, discoveries and all the challenges. It REALLY became apparent on my mental load after I had my second baby.

I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt that I was spread way thin.

I was still adjusting to knowing my daughter, a very different baby than my first, and all the tricks that were working before, didn’t work at all or as effectively with her. I felt, as millions of moms out there also felt: like crap. I had no idea what I was doing. Well, I knew the basics but this was a whole different personality. It’s as though I was starting back at square one; but STILL trying to be present and attentive to my son and at the same time be a loving and supportive wife: 24/7 , 365.

My mode was either OFF, which felt like a blink, or ALWAYS ON: there for everyone AND everything. Doing things on my own and trying to figure things out, is just who I am. It’s part of my ‘being’.

Now, this isn’t to say that my husband didn’t help or wasn’t present. Not at all. He’s a very involved parent and husband. When I was in massage therapy school every second weekend, he was perfectly fine taking care of our son. And our son…. knew no difference!

But, while Onnig was asleep, call it stubbornness on my part or just wanting to ensure he’s at his best for his employees and business partners, I would rarely wake him up overnight. I tended to all the wake ups from either one or both kids.

Now don’t get me wrong, we had many conversations about me needing to wake him up, even if it was to bring the baby to me, wait for the feed, and bring her back to her crib – he was so on board with that. But my thoughts were about taking care of him too.
In hindsight, I wanted and needed to do the work: feel all the feels, gain the experience and knowledge about myself. As much as my babies were growing, I was too.

But my mental health was also taking a toll. I didn’t know or didn’t pay much attention then, but I do remember one night, annoyed after a quick feed, standing by the corner of the bed, awake but exhausted. What felt like months and months and months of trying to keep it all together, while feeling like I was being pulled in all directions, I felt resentment brewing.