A New Life—The Next Chapter

Thanks to all of you who took the time to offer up some words of encouragement—I appreciate it! Now I remember why blogging was so helpful the first time around.

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Last month, I quit my job after my maternity leave to become a stay at home mom. I know it was the right decision! I am so much happier and not stressed out all the time any more. And I feel at peace—that’s always my indicator in making choices.

It felt strange making the final decision and going in to speak with my boss. I worked there for 7.5 years. He seemed surprised and tried to convince me to continue working there. I declined and he said I could come back whenever I wanted—so it’s good to have that option and I can’t say how much joy it brought to my hear to leave on good terms. The memory will be a pleasant one.

My new job is so much more rewarding! All my time working during those 7.5 years, I dreamed of being a SAHM. The day finally arrived and so hubby and I determined if it was financially feasible, I thought long and hard about all of the options—and decided (for sure) that this is what I wanted to do—hubby offered support for whatever choice I would make. But we both want me to be home to raise our sweet little girl.

That being said, being a SAHM has challenges too! It’s not all about wearing yoga pants, trips to Starbucks and shopping at Target. (I admit this is the picture I had in my mind before baby arrived) But it’s much easier to deal with the struggles when you’re doing it out of love…although sometimes it can feel heavier on the heart because you care so much. This summer has gone so fast—time just flies by! I have something to occupy every single moment of my day it seems.

I am learning that it’s ok to let the dishes sit on the table if I need to tend to baby…they can be cleaned up a little later! Things like that are new to me. I have to learn to relax a little bit and realize that I’m on baby’s schedule these days—I have to put myself second. Also, just because I might not bring in money—what I am doing has worth. And I have to remember that.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve always wanted to be a writer. So this is my chance. As soon as I feel like I’m comfortable in the mommy role—I am going to try to do some writing. Getting back into blogging is my start.

I am looking forward to chasing the dream of bring a writer and hopefully being able to make some money doing it. Yes, I made money as a writer as a reporter and at my last job as a technical writer—but I want to be able to write a little more on my own terms and set my own hours. Exciting!

So that’s who I am now… I definitely feel the need to pick up the writing thing. I don’t want to become “just mom” but want to pursue my dreams and keep up the things that make me, well…“me”.

I have felt that loss of identity as I have gained a new one—hard to explain. But really, this is my opportunity to become whatever I want to be…so I need to believe in myself and go after it! Being a mom comes first, but I can still be me—a new me with a new life.

I’m living the next chapter—may it be well written.