“I Cope Well Under Pressure” And Other Lies Working Moms Tell

Moms and Working at Home | The Lies We Tell Ourselves

Hmm… I found this contributed post by Chrissi King a tough read, perhaps because it hit just a little too close to home (excuse the pun). 

It’s on Moms and working at home and the lies we tell ourselves.

Yes, it’s wonderful working from home because I get to be around my family, we can pop out for a walk to the beach or nip out for a playdate whenever we like. 

But fitting it all in is not always as easy it looks. I burn the midnight oil often. My housework suffers most days. Work comes in during family time.  I take a phone call and suddenly my son needs my attention. It really is a balancing act. 

Am I coping?  Who can say?

Are you?  How are you really? Under the surface?

Most days there’s no time to take stock, right?

It’s business as usual. The show must go on.  And we make it all happen. 

A mother’s work is never done. 

Yet, there’s a thread running through everything we do. A playful thread, a lightness, a beauty.  It’s the love we see when we catch our little one’s eye. The moments when we stop to giggle. The moments we realise why we are really here.

“I Cope Well Under Pressure” and Other Lies Working Moms Tell

Guest Post by Chrissi King

As a mom who is also a business owner, you are already the almighty superhero that everyone around you needs. Working at home can make you feel like you have it made. You get to earn the cash in the job you love with the flexibility of being around your family.

Perfection, right? Well, yes. In theory.

There are a lot of things that are wrong with working at home, and one of them is the assumption that you can manage everything smoothly.

However, like a swan on the surface of the lake, there’s beauty in the way you glide from chore to chore, deadline to deadline. Except that no one sees the frantic paddling under the surface!

Working from home means taking on all the pressure and feeling like you’re in a never-ending cycle of being busy.

It’s a challenge, one that a lot of moms thrive on, but let’s not pretend that you don’t wish you could bring in an advanced excel consultancy to help you manage that data that you’re compiling!

Moms who work at home often tell themselves lies to get through the day.

The first lie is the obvious one: I can cope.

You probably can, but how long before you reach burnout? And really, why should you have to cope?

If you are running a business while raising a family, you’re clearly already a competent and educated woman. An educated woman such as yourself should look for the help that is out there and utilise it where you can – even if that means outsourcing some areas of your carefully put-together business.

As a working mom, you already know that your job can feel like the epicentre of life. So, in the interest of working mom solidarity, what other lies do you tell yourself?

It’s Not Possible To “Have It All”.

You have a job, a family and a house to look after.

Can you have it all? Absolutely.

Does that mean some days you wish you could press pause and sleep for a week? Absolutely.

Telling yourself you can’t have it all it is the standard lie when it comes to choosing between a strong career, happy children and a clean home.

You CAN have it all – hiring a cleaner to sort the house is the cheat you need!  Agree, wholeheartedly!

I’m A Good Mother But Work Comes First.

Does it really? No.

Some days you can feel overwhelmed by the wave of work on the desk or the deadlines approaching you.

But you then take a moment to look around you at the children and the crafts and the messes, and you realise that work only happens because without it, your children cannot have what they need.

Work doesn’t come first, it comes alongside the children. The children always come first.

And lastly…

I Will Spend Less Time On Facebook.

Pfft. Your business is being run online, you NEED Facebook. Facebook could make you money. Go on, open it up again, you know you want to.

How are you doing Moms? Are you coping?  Speak to me…

Read more by Chrissi King here: How to Relieve Stress Fast | 3 Quick Techniques for Banishing Stress

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