This is not a "How-To" post

If you're interested in this, chances are you're a parent, and you know how every single child and family is different. Therefore this is definitely not a "How-To" post, but it is a "How-I-Do" post. This is my experience, and if it helps in any way I would be so delighted.

Balance?

Parenthood is hard! I've never felt more challenged, or more exhausted. I've never felt so completely useless and utterly invaluable, and sometimes simultaneously!
Balance to me, is all things being equally distributed, having equal weight. That has literally never been my experience in combining motherhood and running a business. I don't believe in balance in the way we talk about finding balance, or maintaining balance. I certainly have never managed it! Maybe it's possible to maintain a work-life balance, but a work-parenting-life balance? I really don't think so! What does work for me is prioritising, and being clear and honest about those priorities.

Time Blocking

When it's work time, I have to ignore everything else. I compartmentalise a lot. I work from home so yes, this means walking out of an impossibly messy kitchen, walking past the strewn toys all over the living area, ignoring the piles of laundry and going full on into work mode. I don't put off working because the house is messy. When it's housework time, I really tackle it and get it done as thoroughly and as fast as I can.
When it's family time, I don't try to be half-working or keeping an eye on emails or notifications. It's so hard when so much happens on your phone and it's within reach! However, For a long time I tried to blend it all and it was disastrous. I was failing at both work and parenting. I feel like things will always be chaotic for as long as I'm parenting smallies and running a business, but at least my head is less frazzled now that I'm time blocking.

Time Out

Working from home means it's very easy to slip back into work mode after the children have gone to bed. I make myself watch Netflix, or read a book, light a candle, do some yoga etc in order to make sure I get a brain brake. I have a busy brain - don't ask me what it's doing half the time - there's a lot of tangents going on up there (hello creative mindset!) so it's pretty vital that I make sure I switch if off regularly.

Creative Time

I'm definitely guilty of spending way too much time on the admin parts of the business and not enough on the creative side. Let's face it, if you want a successful business, you have to work to bring business in and it takes a lot of time. There's the website, content, socials, fulfilling orders, invoicing, marketing and so much more and these are all essential tasks. We do need reminders to take time out to be creative. Sometimes I feel like parenting sort of drains the creativity battery a little so I like to (spouse permitting) take a break away from the house every so often to work somewhere else for a day. Getting away from the house and the responsibilities definitely helps to feel relaxed and gives me time to draw and play around with designs a lot more freely.

I hope this helps a parent out there who is in the thick of it, whether you're running a business or you're an employee, it doesn't matter when the mental load is heavy. Go easy on yourself, do what you can, and remember to live your own life in your own way, not according to a stranger on the internet!

Úna
x