“Perhaps it was the return of confidence or the break away from lego building, but something was telling me I was just so ready for a new opportunity. I was excited to tell people about what I was doing, I became EVEN more efficient with my time”
The return to work process happened a little earlier than expected for me…..
I’d been out of work since having my son, Oliver, in 2012 and now in 2018 (and another mini-Doran later - Eva), I found myself wanting to up-skill and refresh my tired marketing brain with the ever-changing and exciting world of social media, on the premise that it would be good to not only use my brain for something other than a creative way to hide carrots in a pasta sauce, but to add this new skill-set to my CV when I was eventually ready to return to the workplace.
I signed up to the associate programme, run by Digital Mums and during my course I was paired with Helen at 9-2-3 Jobs, Ta-dah (!!), you know where this is going, and as I ticked off my assignments and ran my first campaign for Helen’s business, I must admit that I became so revived by having a work purpose again, I slowly felt that my confidence began to return (and then some) which effected me in more ways than I thought it would, personally.
I actually looked forward to nap times, not so that I could have a break, but so I could log on again and get back to work.
Perhaps it was the return of confidence or the break away from lego building, but something was telling me I was just so ready for a new opportunity. I was excited to tell people about what I was doing, I became EVEN more efficient with my time (if that is physically possible when already having a young family), it was like I had a new lease of life and, admittedly, such an ego boost, as things seemed to be going so well and clicking into place with work & life and the juggle.
Yes, we had a fair few chicken nugget meals, yes it was hard to balance things some days, YES I absolutely felt the guilt of perhaps not being as present with the kids, but I had this horrible knack of feeling like that all the time anyway, as well as relying on what I could find in the freezer for a quick dinner….so what’s new!
I knew that I had made the right decision to do the course, so when it was coming to an end and Helen offered me a job to do this permanently, flexibly and remotely I JUMPED at the chance of staying on.
So, initially I had imagined that I’d wait until Eva (now 2) was a little bit older but this was too good an opportunity to miss. After all, it wasn’t as though I’d be chained to a slab of MDF (as Mother Pukka refers to it) 9-5 every…working…day. I could still have the playdates and sports days without feeling the guilt of asking my boss and be more effective and productive in the time that was set to work. And I loved it. I still do.
For anyone wondering if returning to work is the right time or wondering if they’d ever be able to fit in work around being a Mum, then I totally recommend trialling it. If you can find something that works for you, that works around your family and allows you to do something you love, then go for it. If it doesn’t quite work out then perhaps take that as a life lesson, learn from it and then try it again when you’re ready.
But where are these jobs I hear you cry??
Thankfully, flexible working is becoming a national conversation and we’re seeing more companies join us at 9-2-3 who see the benefits of this to both businesses and to their employees. We constantly try to expand this list of forward thinking and flexible companies so that there are more opportunities available - FLEX FOR ALL!
Being a stay at home Mum and having all that time to play and be present is wonderful and I don’t take it for granted or regret it at all, but it isn’t easy. You multi-task, negotiate, grow and develop a fabulous group of small children so it’s something to shout about on your CV too. Don’t hide it, use it to your advantage. I have learned so much from it (and still do).