Do you feel like you have to constantly prove yourself in the workplace because you’re a working mum? With most of us having a few days off because of the Christmas and bank holidays, this is your chance to go back to work renewed and ready to stand firm!
We don’t ask to be treated like martyrs, or for a medal, neither do we ask for special treatment, just because we have children. Most of us working mums just want to get on – by that I mean getting on with the work we’re being paid to do. Most of us want to get in with that work without feeling as though every step we take in the workplace is being scrutinised in case any semblance of life outside it is impacting on our work or how we do it.
Let’s get straight into it – work and family life is a big machine that doesn’t stop moving. If you stand still, it can feel like the washing, school run and other responsibilities could literally knock you over and run you down!
Having a hobby is one sure way to help relieve some of the stress and tension that keeping this machine of life moving can produce.
Egg timer…check! Twenty minutes to spare…check! Phone on silent…check!
Ok, well that should have given you an insight into what this article is about. A big tick if you’ve worked out that it has something to do with time management. Isn’t it always these days?
“We don’t talk enough about menstruation. In fact, we don’t speak about it at all. When we do, it’s nearly always preceded with “Sorry: TMI, I know,”says Abby Norman, a freelance artist. Abby’s right.
People are always happier to talk about a woman’s birthing plans. It seems that a woman’s womb is always up for discussion if it involves putting a baby in. Why is something like that not off limits, yet no one wants to discuss periods?
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, women who return to work after maternity leave are more likely to experience discrimination than women did a decade ago. Put into context, 54,000 new mums lose their jobs every year: one in nine are dismissed, made compulsorily redundant, or forced out of their jobs because they are treated so badly that they quit.
If you’re one of those working mums who manages to hang on to your job, or grin through the craziness, give yourself a pat on the back. Here are some of the good effects that motherhood impacts on your career – so you can gloat:
There comes a time in our lives when we decide to make big changes. Sometimes, it’s about making a huge overhaul and other times it’s about making a small change that will impact our lives for the better (hopefully!).
Mine was the death of my mother, whom I loved dearly and miss immensely. Nothing can describe the feeling of being alone, when you have so many people around you, when you lose someone who was a core part of your life.
That turning point in my life basically forced me to look for ways to fill the gap – as much as she is irreplaceable, the pain of losing her is replaceable, and my aim was to find a way to make waking up every morning easier, and to make sure that the pain was replaced by another feeling so that I could function as a mother, wife, entrepreneur… A person.
When technology fails, the traditional, fail-safe methods are what we gravitate towards.
You may ignore a reminder, forget to add an important meeting to your Google Calandar, or your battery might run out on your smartphone when you desperately need to confirm a date. But a notebook or a bullet journal won’t leave your side – unless you choose it to be so.
On my drive this morning, listening to LBC Radio in the car, I heard an interesting feature asking listeners if they think that women should get a day off for period pains. My initial response was complete shock: isn’t it enough that maternity leave, emergency childcare and just plain old annual leave can raise eyebrows when you’re a working mum, but period pain leave? Really?
