Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Staying busy....

So I had a really busy day today.

I'll admit that my personal WAH situation is different from many because I homeschool my children. And that certainly eats up time that might be spent building business.

Because I don't do business during "school" hours, that forces most of my work to the afternoons and evenings.

As I found out this evening, that schedule sometimes means that things fall through the cracks - like, you know, feeding my child.

So all right, it didn't kill him to wait an extra hour and a half to have dinner. And my husband COULD have made sure to feed Alex before leaving for Lucas' hockey practice.

But as he sits down stairs happily inhaling his mac and cheese, I am reminded that I choose this lifestyle because it fits the values most important to me - family time, true education, and striving to maximize all of our gifts and talents.

I can't say I feel good about poor Alex having to wait so long for dinner (although he was playing with a friend and couldn't have been TOO unhappy!). But neither do I drown myself in guilt.

We all do meaningful, purposeful things every day. We advance our families and work our businesses - in good times and in bad. Sometimes we may have to sacrifice comfort to allow other things to happen. This is a good lesson for all the members of our family - and maybe yours, too.

Guilt sucks. Those who know me, and certainly all of my clients, have heard me say this repeatedly. Moms do SO MUCH over the course of the day. And for those of us managing a business at the same time, we juggle even more.

There is no room for guilt. Guilt and regret are distractions. Let's chuck them out the window and move forward. Because we're working our careers, loving our families, and ignoring the bad economic news.

We're busy. No time for guilt.

To Your Continuing Prosperity,
Anita

2 comments:

Shannon said...

You are right! As homeschooling, work-at-home moms, we can't allow guilt to distract us or eat away at us.
I also don't usually work during "school" time, but sometimes I need to, to meet a deadline. On those days, we do light school or have an "unschooling" day.
We (the kids and I) have routines based on how much work I have to do that day. if it is "Mom MUST work today" day, the kids know what they need to do. And if its a "Mom is not working today" day, then they know what might be possible for the day. It's good to have rhythms and to set expectations.
Like yours, my kids too have had to wait until later for dinner, but they also know that they can get healthy food anytime they are hungry. But if I'm cooking dinner, then wait. :)

Anita Marchesani, Ph.D. said...

Shannon, what a great idea to have "mom must work today" activities, and "mom is not working today" duties!

I don't work during "school time" either, but sometimes a phone call does need to be returned ASAP. And darned if it doesn't mess up the routine for a bit. But what can you do?

NO MORE GUILT!