Written by Jill Hanson
My baby turns 1 today. This past year has been full of joy, love, peace, snuggles, and giggles. It has also been full of anxiety, exhaustion, tears, loneliness, guilt, and overwhelm. Motherhood is a wild ride that sits somewhere in the middle of all of the emotions and changes from day to day, and even minute to minute.
Biological mom, foster mom, adoptive mom, bonus mom, married mom, single mom, widowed mom, working mom, corporate mom, work-from-home mom, entrepreneur mom. No matter what type of motherhood you have, it is HARD.
Hard physically. Hard emotionally. Hard financially (kids are EXPENSIVE).
Working Motherhood Brings Unique Challenges
Working motherhood brings additional unique challenges. I put out a survey on LinkedIn and also asked a few friends about the challenges that they face as working moms. Here are a few of the responses I got:
“Being judged for putting my children first, childcare, flexibility or lack of understanding if my child is sick or something else out of my control.”
“Overall sense that I’m incompetent because I have children.”
“Just having enough time. In trying to be an employee, a leader, a wife, a mom, & just trying to care for my own basic human needs it feels impossible to do everything. At least 2 or 3 of those things go by the wayside at any given point.”
“Having to constantly make decisions on what to prioritize. Having to choose to miss Dr appts or special events because something at work is blowing up. And if I do take time away finding ways to be present. I spend a lot of my time at home thinking about work. It creates a lot of mom-guilt that I’m not focusing on my kids and employee guilt that I’m not getting things done because I’m trying to be with my kids.”
“I could no longer be the person who gave 200% to her job because suddenly I had this little baby I loved more, and am still in the darkness of post-Partum depression and anxiety.”
“The CONSTANT battle between work and home life. The constant guilt.”
“I still struggle with comparisons to other working moms without knowing their entire story. Do they have a husband who works from home and has more flexibility? Do they have family in the area who can support them? How does she do it? I feel like I am such a hot mess all of the time.”
“It is so challenging to unapologetically be yourself without feeling like you’re falling short somewhere. It’s a challenge to embrace the human element behind being a working mom, and that it can be messy and that IT’S OKAY.”
“Trying to ensure you’re performing your best at work, even if that means working very early or really late after the kids are asleep. Working virtually had really helped with some but it’ll always be tough.”
“My own unrealistic expectations of what I ‘should’ be able to do.”
That last one speaks to my heart and soul. What do you mean, I can’t do it all and do it all perfectly??
If these are the things we are wrestling with daily, then we as working moms need space to come together to celebrate one another and to speak truth into the lies that we believe about ourselves and our working motherhood. Because, as much as we want to be able to keep our motherhood and our career in two separate boxes, we can’t. It is impossible. There is too much overlap. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and embarrassed with the overlap, we should be celebrating it!
Honor the Overlap at Working Mom Summit
I would like to invite you to Honor the Overlap at the 2023 Working Mom Summit at The Treasury. We believe that what makes you a great mom is also what makes you incredible in your job! January 27th & 28th will be a weekend of celebration, encouragement, and education.
Weekend of Growth & Connection
Working motherhood is hard and you deserve a weekend of pouring back into yourself so you can embrace who you are in both spaces. Come to find community in the space where you feel lonely, let peace replace anxiety, and gain skills to help with the overwhelm. Let celebration replace guilt. Honor the Overlap!
Get Tickets to the Working Mom Summit Here
