My usual 40-minute drive to work is filled with calls from clients and listening to my favorite podcasts.
But the other day, the car was silent. No calls. No podcasts.Just my thoughts. I began think about my children. Questions pop in my head like, am I a good mother, why did I yell when we were late, will they resent that I work so much, should I volunteer at school, why am I not on the PTO, what if my kids screw up and it’s my fault…etc.
Those are the thoughts that keep me up at night. And I’m sure that’s the case with many moms. I am blessed to have three beautiful daughters and own a business that I’m passionate about. But, this work/life balance thing sucks. No matter how hard you try and what you do, something or someone suffers.
Every one of my friends has told me that I’m a role model to my daughters. And, that they will look up to me and will see that they can be successful at whatever they put their mind to. To be honest, I think it’s just my friend’s way of making me feel better. We all do that.
The other day I was driving with my intern, Evelyn Fiske. She’s a senior at Western New England University. Evelyn is an A student, an extremely hard worker and a writer for the Huffington Post. Pretty smart, right? She asked me how I do it all. I laughed and said “Oh, but, I don’t.” I went on to say how I fear that my demanding career will have a negative impact on my children.
What Evelyn said to me will stick with me for the rest of my life. She said that her mom’s work ethic made her who she is today. Because of her mom, she aspired to be a strong, intelligent, successful woman just like her mom. Evelyn just wrote an article about it in the Huffington Post called I Got it From My Mama. It’s simply amazing and inspiring.
To hear a young woman who experienced what my daughters are going through right now gave me hope. It gave me the strength to keep going strong in my career. It gave me the confidence to throw out all of those doubts. Will I question my parenting a hundred times a day? Probably, yes. But, will I fear that by working hard and being successful will ruin my children? No. Evelyn is a prime example that working women can be an inspiration to their children.
And by working, I mean stay-at- home moms too. Let’s get this straight, stay at home moms have the toughest job in the world. I honestly don’t know how they do it. They are simply amazing.
So cheers to Evelyn. Cheers to the moms busting their butts in a demanding job. Cheers to the moms who sacrifice everything to stay at home and raise their children.
No matter what job role we are in, we will have guilt. But that’s what articles like Evelyn’s are for. To take you out of the dark place; to make you realize that you are doing a good job; to put a tear in your eye; and, to give you the strength to be the best mom in the world.