Modern Mamahood: Be a Sane + Pleasant Career Mama

Being a mom with a career can be challenging. It's still pretty recent in our history as females that moms and careers have mixed at all. I find myself pondering how to best balance motherhood and my career--both for women in general and for me personally.

The answer I've found is actually pretty simple: what makes mommy sane and pleasant? And then you get major extra points for loving what you do.

Point is, there isn't any particular type of career that is the definitive answer to this dilemma. It's all about undertaking the self-exploration necessary to find a career path that leaves you in a focused, positive, loving frame of mind when you are hanging out with your children.

That could mean anything from a fabulously stable 9-5 at a great company, to owning your own successful line of cosmetics. Again, what drives the outcome is working yourself into a spot that creates a sane and pleasant vibe within you, so you can pass that along to your child.

I am bringing this topic up because for me, sane and pleasant means doing several different projects at once as a 'free agent'. I've always been a bit of a free spirit and a wild child, big out of box thinker and major communicator. Finding the right fit has meant saying bye-bye to the 9-5 (scary!) and sticking my neck out and trying to make it work as a free agent right now and probably later as a business owner if I have my way.

But lately some of the free agent biz hasn't come through as I'd hoped and I have an amazing 9-5 opportunity staring me in the face. I felt pressured to just get back into the grind to bring in a stable check for my fam. I thought about it throughout the entire Labor Day long weekend, but the idea of going back to what I left literally made my stomach turn. I bounced thoughts off myself, my family, my friends and my notebook and decided that since a 9-5 makes me an angry, stressed out, caged feeling woman, I am going to pass in order to stay sane and pleasant for myself and for my little Regina Jade, even if that means a less stable income and lots of unknowns.

Almost every mother I talk to deals with trying to find this balance and you have my support! Best of luck to you all in finding this place for yourself and your family. If you need a sounding board, I'm always here.

The Modern Mamahood Column on the Ladies Lotto Blog:

As our Ladies Lotto community grows and evolves, we now have quite a few mamas and mamas-to-be! The LL Modern Mamahood weekly column presents the issues and products related to being a Ladies Lotto Mama. Blogger: Lana Perry