By career changes I mean complete shifts in focus, not just changing jobs within the same profession.
- Marketing
- Business Owner
- Tupperware Consultant
- Stay at home mum
I am a HUGE believer in making the most of every opportunity that comes along and creating as many meaningful experiences as I can. I am at the point where I am about to move into the next phase.
What to do...what to do...
After much thinking time and drilling down into defining what I was looking for, I recently undertook a course to become a Vocational Education Teacher.
Yet another complete shift from anything I have ever done before.
I am excited about this new pursuit and a little anxious about starting something completely different and hopefully I will actually enjoy it.
Unlike the previous career changes, this one has been much more in depth. There are so many considerations. Childcare has probably been the biggest one. I have had to put the boys names on waiting lists. Even though:
I am not in the country at the moment
I won't need the childcare until I get back into the country
I don't have job
I haven't even started looking for one
I don't know where that job will be and what hours of care I will need
I don't know what days I will be working or how many
But I still need the names on the waiting lists...
I get really detail focused with things like this - trying to cover all bases - trying to make sure nothing will be left to chance because heaven forbid I miss something - the whole world will come crashing down (OK maybe that is a BIT dramatic).
I should take Mr Jones' advice and "Just relax, it will all work out". Easy for him to say, he doesn't have to work out what days Master 4 has kinder and if he has to stay home to do the drop off and pick up or whether someone else can do that for him and if they can, who will it be? He doesn't have to worry about how far the childcare centre is from the train station and after he does the drop off at childcare will he still be able to get a parking spot to get to work on time. He doesn't have to think about how many days he is going to have to take off work because the kids are sick from being in childcare. He doesn't have to think about whether he is actually going to be able to get to the gym and have 5 minutes to just pick his nose if he feels like it...
OK, rant over...and reading that back, I sound just a tad neurotic. I really should just take the advice and "Just relax, it will all work out".
Seriously though, as mums, we do have to get into this level of detail if we are going to have some kind of sanity to our week.
The other side of this next phase are the emotional questions that are constantly rolling around in my mind
Firstly, about leaving my boys...
Am I being selfish? Don't they need me at this time more than they ever will? What is more important to me? I have a lifetime to work - should I just wait? I will never get these years back with them, I should make the most of it. Will they turn into raging psychopaths if I am not there with them 24 hours a day?
And then...
Don't I deserve to have some intellectual fulfilment outside of my role as a parent? Won't they enjoy the social side of childcare? I really should go back now because if I wait too long who is going to want to employ me anyway? Wouldn't it be nice to have my own money again. Imagine being able to drink a hot coffee and eat lunch whilst reading a magazine... yeah, now you're talkin'!
Goodness, it is exhausting.
I don't need to put myself under all this pressure and ask these ridiculous - and impossible to answer - questions but the inner motherlogue is like a broken record inside my head.
Still...despite the delicate balance required and the immense level of organising and planning to make it all work, I think I am going to run with it and see where it takes me.
The kids will be OK. We will make it work.
After all, a wise person once told me "Just relax, it will all work out"
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