Baby/Work/Life Balance

Source: Typographic prints from Seb Lester

The countdown to maternity leave has begun... I have 18 more days in the office, plan to work from home for 2 weeks then take the last week before my due date off. It's exciting but overwhelming to think about how my life will change. Will I be ready to come back to work after 3 months of maternity leave? What kind of child care can we afford? How will I balance being a mom and working full-time? I have no clue.

Deep breath... one of my favorite bloggers, Cup of Jo, recently interviewed full-time working moms and how they balance work and family life. To be honest it didn't put my mind at ease but it did show me that its possible and that you have to come to terms with the fact that not everything is going to get done everyday and that's okay, she says:

There are only 24 hours in a day, and if you want to spend time playing with your kids, hanging out with your friends and partner, working at a job you love and having some time for yourself to take a bath or read a book, you might not get to do each of these things, at least for as long as you'd like. Allocating time becomes a real challenge. Maybe it's less about balance and more about compromise. What I find reassuring about reading these balance interviews is knowing that no one has it 100% figured out—everyone, it seems without exception, is constantly tweaking and fiddling their schedules to make it all work.