The month of February has brought around many changes in our household, and hopefully they are all for the best. Dave & I were both stressed at work and trying to adjust to life with a 6 year old has a unique set of stressors as well. We decided to take a step back from our careers and focus on ourselves and our family. It is scary and exciting at the same time.
When I first started working my grandfather gave me the advice to pay myself first, thankfully I took his advice which makes this all possible. I have a long list of projects I want to accomplish around the house and I will also be looking for another job. Dave is following his passion and has found a job as a beer specialist at a local liquor store.
It wasn't an easy decision for me to make leaving a job I just started 6 months ago. People always talk about "having it all" and recently I heard it put a much better way. You can have it all but you can't do it all at the same time. This really resonated with me and made me realize that becoming a mom and taking a position as a director at the same time wasn't the right thing to do. If junior had been with us longer and felt more stable here , or if I had been in the job for 6 months before he was placed with us things might have ended up differently. As it was I was not able to give either home or work 100% and that just wasn't good.
I don't have a crystal ball and I don't know what the future holds for us. What I do know is that we are going to take some time to reconnect and bond as a family. Hopefully I can find a job that doesn't require me to start at 6:30 and has limited travel. Maybe in the future that will change, we are just going to take things one step as a time.
Admittedly I was a little worried about the reaction I would get when we announced our plans to others. I was quite surprised by the number of people who commented on how much they admired what we were doing. I was expecting to hear many more negative comments and have people try to talk us out of our choices. One of us making a big career change is one thing but both of us at the same time seems crazy.
This isn't something that was decided on the spur of the moment, those that know me well know I am a planner. So yes a lot of planning went into this. We actually started planning for Dave leaving his job back in November, my change wasn't part of the original plan but life happens and I have a plan on how to deal with this.
2 comments:
I've learned that "people" who think you're crazy just have the thought "I wish I could do what she's doing." This sounds like a great experience. As I've said before - with your skills when you are ready to find another job you will be able to step right back into the work world. The time that you're spending with your husband and son are going to create amazing memories. I am THRILLED for you and your family!
I'm absolutely certain you are making the right choice. In the triangle wife/mother/work one will always suffer. You can be a great wife and mother or great mother and worker, etc. but without staff one will be left behind. When I worked I was the good mother/worker combo, since these didn't really give me any other choice, and always felt guilty!
You can (and will) find another job but you will never get the missed time with Junior back. The school activities you'll miss, the vacation activities, etc.
And as for Dave. Nothing is more important than loving the job you do.
I'm glad you guys have the guts to take this step! Good luck, I'm sure you will not regret it.
Post a Comment