Are You Ready?
Since being home with my child, I feel disconnected from my career, but I think it’s time to re-engage. I am confused about how to get back out there on my own terms.
Did you suspend your career to have or care for your children?
Do you say things like: I used to be [fill in career title here], but now I’m just a mom?
Is it time to re-engage and bring your gifts, talents and skills back into the world somehow?
Are you struggling to figure out how to get flexible but on your own terms?
Who You Are
You are a professional-on-pause doing your most important life’s work… caring for and growing your busy family. You are thrilled with the decision you made to put work on pause to parent your children. You are looking to the future and seeing the possibility of more time to yourself and more control over your schedule.
What Your Issues Tend To Be
To be an awesome mom, you’ve had to put some parts of your “old professional identity” to sleep. You’ve reaped the rewards, joy and amazing moments of being there for your children, but internally you know that you are squandering your skills and abilities by staying busy with volunteer work and ladies clubs. In fact you may be feeling a little bit out of place in those arenas if you’re being totally honest.
You really want to get back and create a career that allows your strengths and abilities but at the same time you don’t want to take time away from your family. And, although you may not like to admit it, you’r probably scared and overwhelmed at what lies ahead, so you decide to wait.
The funny thing is that although you are generally happy… in your private moments you are unsettled, restless, and maybe even a little agitated. In fact, let’s face it, you may even be bored with the same old, same old.
Why? Because you know there is ‘more‘ for you to do, be, have and accomplish. You know you want to be fully-engaged and bring your skills to the world in a bigger way. You just don’t know where to start, or what steps to take first. And you’re even kind of embarrassed to talk with anyone about it because you ‘should be‘ happy… after all – this is what you said you wanted… right?
Your decision to put your career on hold for awhile is rooted in your core values and beliefs of what it means to be a mother and support your family’s needs. Your core values were the ones calling that caused you to disconnect and take a break from your profession or career. The thing is that sometimes there can be a values clash inside of ourselves. Why? Because it is likely that your definition of who you are as an adult is strongly linked to your career success. After all, your career is where you likely grew, embraced and learned to enjoy your adult wings. Because of this values clash and this disorientation in your identity, it’s important for you to legitimize where you are now, outside of that career, take stock in your skills, figure out what you want, and then figure out what is next. Looking within, reaching out, exploring your options, and creating your path forward is what will help you conquer the fear of going back out there and presenting yourself today (even with a significant break in your employment status).
[Tweet “For the mom looking to create a career that works. #mompreneur”]
What You Need Most Right Now
Your primary focus needs to be on accepting that what was reality then, is different than what your reality is today, and that this difference is a direct result of your choices, made from a secure values-based foundation of who you are at your core. It’s time to come out of hiding, assess where you’ve been and what you’re great at, review your skills, explore your options that fit within your reality and desires NOW, and create a realistic re-engagement strategy.
Accepting where you are and deciding what is next from your current reality is critical to the success of your next steps. Knowing the skills you already have in your toolbox is one step, figuring out where you want to go is important too. Creating a path that supports your family-based values and your drive to make a difference on a larger scale is what you need to be clear, centered, and well on your way to what is next on your journey.
A step-by-step plan will give you focus to break overwhelming tasks down into bite-size actions that lead to big results. It is essential for you to do the inside work necessary to get clear about who you are now, the amount of discretionary time you are willing to devote to your work, and then to create a realistic strategy to re-engage in a professional capacity that honors both sides of who you are – awesome mom, and professional.
Together, we’ll get clear on what you want, take inventory of your ‘sleepy’ skills, (maybe even refresh that resume) and create a doable plan for your path forward. As a result of this clarity, you’ll wake up and naturally take powerful actions toward your goals.
[…] So many professional women struggle with work life balance and guilt for leaving their kids in daycare while they work, that more than 10 million decide to stay home for awhile. This provides a break from the pressures of their careers and allows them to have a solitary focus on their children and family. Many moms who heed the call to stay home are very happy. Others are very happy for awhile. Still others, while feeling good about their decision to spend time at home, bide time until they feel comfortable returning to work. […]