Let me start this post by stating the obvious, I LOVE my job. I love everything about it: the independence it gives me and flexibility to run my days how I wish to, I love the creativity it allows me, the earning potential and limitless opportunity to build and create exactly what I want.
That being said, it’s not easy being self-employed and there are a lot of things that being your own boss entails that people with bosses don’t have to consider. More often than not, people tend to think being self-employed means you can take holidays or time off whenever you want. Which I guess, in theory is true. But the reality is that, when I’m not working – no one is. And while yes, I could literally decide to take time off whenever I want, time off means the needle is not moving forward. After 8 years building my blog and business, it’s not worth it IMO and to be totally honest, I get bored when I’m not working on new things. I LIKE to be productive. It’s not so much about being ‘busy’ as it is about continuing to build.
So, when the idea of building our family came up, it took me YEARS to wrap my head around how I was going to manage. Since then, a lot of slow + steady progress has been made. I’ve put certain systems into place, expanded my (small but mighty) team and onboarded a consistent client roster, making it much more feasible for me to think about adding onto my personal life. After all, a huge driving force of having my own business is to lead by example and show my own kids that you can walk your own path, if you so choose to.
This all being said, my ‘maternity leave’ will not look like most women I know.
My thought process is to take six-ish weeks to bond with baby, get ourselves adjusted and heal before slowly dipping my toes back in. I have zero expectations about really, anything but I feel like six weeks is a decent amount of time to detach from the real world and head into baby-land. Financially, it makes more sense for me to continue working after that point then to take any assistance from the government. The nice part about my job is that I decide what I take on, what brands I work with and how I earn my income.
I’m obviously no expert, but I want my experience to be that – when I am working I’m all in and when I am being a Mom, I’m all in and 100% there. I fully get that it’s nearly impossible to juggle both perfectly. I’m also really lucky that my husband is already an extremely hands-on person, who is constantly assuring me and providing me with support and assistance in any way I need. And I haven’t even gotten started on the rest of our families – very lucky.
So – what you can expect! Over the next six weeks I can’t say how much or how little I will be sharing and active on social. Frankly, I’m not worried about it and know that this time with our brand new baby is fleeting and so sacred, so I want to allow myself the opportunity to fall off the face of the planet, if I need to. Who knows how life will be! On the other hand, I do have a business to keep afloat, and have prepared accordingly. You can still expect to find regular content uploaded to my blog & website weekly. I have pre-written and accounted for posts all the way until September, so nothing will change there. Going to take IG on a day-by-day basis, but the truth is I love to share and will continue to do so as it feels naturally.
Thank you, as always for your love + support towards our family at this time. It really does mean more to me than you know xx
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