Changing my ways

I felt a change the last few days. Perhaps I am getting wiser and more mature. I have decided I want more balance in my life. I plan to be successful and I need to say "no" more often to do that. I need to set limits and I need to have priorities.
This past fall I was listening to a podcast by Lara Galloway of http://mombizcoach.com/ and she said that we all need to set priorities and stick to them. I thought "well, that's easy!" Then she said we could only have 3 priorities. I thought "Only 3?! Impossible!"
I have always had more than 3 focuses in my life and I drive myself crazy trying to get them all done. Usually I do complete everything and most of the time I do them all well but I feel stressed, distracted and anxious in the process.
But I don't want to feel that way anymore. Especially now that my son is in daycare 3 days a week, I want the days that I am with him to be special. I want to present and focused on him, not thinking about the hundred things on my to-do list.
So here are my 3 priorities:

1. Family - spending quality time loving each other and getting settled in our new home
2. Health - continuing to care of my body through good food, self care and active living
3. Career - taking advantage of the exciting opportunities that come my way

And in that order! Which means I may have to say no to a career opportunity if it jeopardizes too much of the time I spend with my family. I value my family more than anything but I think they may doubt that some days. I have spent too many weekends in my home office with the door shut this winter.
This week I said no to a couple things: I withdrew from one of my courses for next semester (leaving me with only one) and I delayed a guest blogging opportunity until next month. It feels good to set priorities and stick to them. I know I will be a better me (and mom and partner and friend) with less on my plate.

And this is just the beginning...

Before babe I loved being able to focus on my career. It may not have been the right career for me, but what a pleasure it was to throw myself at it and enjoy the freedom of complete commitment. These days, building a brand new career from nothing but a few courses and a great personality, I find myself wishing I had all the time in the world to devote myself to internships, volunteer roles and paid positions. I would work 80 hour weeks if I could. I know I could rocket myself from marketing intern to guru in a year. If....

But that's not the way it goes as a mom. Instead, I spent half my day worrying about my sweet son after receiving a phone call from my childcare provider telling me my son had been miserable all morning. I then spent the next couple hours calling my partner, calling my mom, calling different possible childcare providers - trying to figure out if this was normal and what was my best course of action. In the end, my son had a great nap and was a super star for the rest of the day.

The truth is, I don't want to be away from my son for a single moment. At the same time, I really want to be away from my son for many moments. I am one those moms - the ones that wish they had the patience, the interest & the creativity to mother full time. I just don't. I know I will be a better mom if I also have a career. I know I will be able to give him more if I also give to myself.

Our goal is to have our son attend some type of childcare for 3 days a week. This means I have 3 days + nights + weekends to create a new career. Creating a new career includes studying, interning, volunteering, branding myself and looking for work. It's a tough gig!

Maybe, if I didn't love the field of marketing communications, I would feel like it was too tough. Thankfully, I don't actually care that I am up past midnight, writing a blog post to promote myself while my babe and partner sleep sweetly. Thankfully, I have an awesome partner who will let me sleep in tomorrow. Maybe my son will also get that memo.