I'm exhausted! After a whirlwind trip to Qld over the weekend and a beautiful wedding but a few sleepless nights and lots and lots of driving - I'm stuffed!
Highlights - catching up with family! Catching up with the Ipswich parkrun crew! Running with Sarah and Mark! Doing the hills of the park2park course and thinking that I am so much stronger than I was when I did them 2 years ago! Catching up with family we haven't seen since our wedding 14 years ago! The beautiful morning views from our hotel room in Mount Tamborine!
To top off my exhaustive state, today I had to drive to Grafton and back for work - another 4 hours in the car driving!!
So a short post today! Good night!
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Monday, June 27, 2016
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Day 1 - Blog 12 Days of Christmas: Expect Miracles
Back again for another round of #blog12daysxmas! And I'm hoping some of the regulars are back again too as I love catching up with what they have been up to.
I'm following the daily mantra idea I used for #blogjune to prompt some deep (sometimes) thought. Today's mantra is quite fitting - Expect miracles!
Today being Christmas is in itself a day born from a miracle. Perhaps you may not be religious - I'm not a Christian as such but certainly was when I was younger and the miracle of Christmas is one that will not be forgotten.
I will always think of Christmas as a day to celebrate family! And that's what my little family did today. Even though gifts were involved - family was at the hub!
And I think you have to look at every day you get to spend with family (and really our friends are often part of our family) is a miracle!!
I hope you enjoyed your miracle today and continue to expect miracles - they may not be big but they are there and often happen everyday!!
I'm following the daily mantra idea I used for #blogjune to prompt some deep (sometimes) thought. Today's mantra is quite fitting - Expect miracles!
Today being Christmas is in itself a day born from a miracle. Perhaps you may not be religious - I'm not a Christian as such but certainly was when I was younger and the miracle of Christmas is one that will not be forgotten.
I will always think of Christmas as a day to celebrate family! And that's what my little family did today. Even though gifts were involved - family was at the hub!
And I think you have to look at every day you get to spend with family (and really our friends are often part of our family) is a miracle!!
I hope you enjoyed your miracle today and continue to expect miracles - they may not be big but they are there and often happen everyday!!
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Strive to be more you than you've ever been #blogjune #15
Today's mantra: Strive to be more you than you've ever been.
Today we conquered a walk. A walk that we've been wanting to do as a family for a while but just have never got round to it. So at 10am we drove to Wenonah beach. Got out of the car and headed South to Valla Beach along the beach.
I estimated that it would be around 4.5k - well it was 5k down the beach and another 5k back so 10k in total and we did it. My husband's feet were a bit sore and mine were a bit too - bare foot on hard sand will do that to you.
Miss A only had one melt down due to not being allowed to go swimming - it was still cold.
As a family we spent 2 hours together doing exercise!!
Strive to be more you than you've ever been - I'm not sure the world is ready for more of me!!!
Today we conquered a walk. A walk that we've been wanting to do as a family for a while but just have never got round to it. So at 10am we drove to Wenonah beach. Got out of the car and headed South to Valla Beach along the beach.
I estimated that it would be around 4.5k - well it was 5k down the beach and another 5k back so 10k in total and we did it. My husband's feet were a bit sore and mine were a bit too - bare foot on hard sand will do that to you.
Miss A only had one melt down due to not being allowed to go swimming - it was still cold.
As a family we spent 2 hours together doing exercise!!
Strive to be more you than you've ever been - I'm not sure the world is ready for more of me!!!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Is the grass greener?
Ok, so I'm haven't been posting to my blog at least once a week. Honestly, so far this year I'm feeling flat. Usually on return from the Christmas/New Year break, I am excited and revitalised about work and the year to come. I'm ready to launch into planning heaps of exciting activities and seeking out opportunities to promote the library.
This year, it's not happening. Each morning I wake up thinking this is the morning my motivation will return. This is the morning I'll feel a skip in my step and anticipation for the day ahead. Nope - not happening.
I'm not quite sure if I can pinpoint just one reason as to why this is happening. I mean, I took a longer break and I didn't fill my break with drives to Qld which normally exhaust me and make me feel I really haven't had a break. No this holiday I relaxed and I spent lots of time at the beach and quality time with my family. So it's not because I didn't have a good holiday.
I think it might be a combination of things. Currently I don't have enough relief staff so I am constantly on edge that someone is going to get sick and we'll have no one to back fill.
One of my long term, highly organised staff members is off sick, so it has been hard to pick up the things that they would normally do without thinking.
I'm also involved in another project at work that I'm having an internal battle trying to devote time to - also trying to get my head around exactly how to tackle it and get it done in the very tight deadline is stressful. I'm also supposed to be able to pull myself out of my day job to complete this - but that brings me back to the lack of relief staff.
Other things that may be at play are the fact that I do keep an eye on what jobs are going in the library industry and often find a job that I think would be much better than the one I'm in now - be it to be closer to family and friends, less responsibility, higher pay, better conditions, etc. So there have been a few that have come up recently that I have thought maybe I should go for them. But in reality I'm probably only trying to run away from this situation and is the grass really greener elsewhere?!?
I am coming up to having been in this job for 5 years. In the past I always had a 3 year rule - no more than 3 years in the same job. However, since having a child and she is in school, I have longed for somewhere to be long term. To be in the same place so that we don't have to move and Miss A doesn't have to change schools and I'll actually get to get one of those certificates saying I've been in an organisation for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years etc. To actually be somewhere long enough to make some big changes or go through some big changes and come out the other side better than before.
That said, there are some big changes happening - restructure, possible (probably more like inevitable) changes to local government models/boundaries in NSW, the never ending battle for funding. And for me that creates a feeling of uncertainty. What happens if my job no longer exists - what then?
Of course, I then kick myself for being worried about something that has not happened yet.
So I'm sorry for this post being so personal and probably a bit depressing, but I felt I had to write down how I am feeling and see if it gives me a light at the end of the tunnel moment.
And perhaps it has, because when I drive to work this morning and I go over the river and past the beautiful scenery which may be a bit muddy and wet at the moment, I'm sure to feel lucky to live here. And if I think about what we did over the holidays - is it really so bad that I should give up this lifestyle?? Is it really as bad as it seems??
Honestly, I think I'm just going through a phase but I really hope that it hurry's up and passes me by.
This year, it's not happening. Each morning I wake up thinking this is the morning my motivation will return. This is the morning I'll feel a skip in my step and anticipation for the day ahead. Nope - not happening.
I'm not quite sure if I can pinpoint just one reason as to why this is happening. I mean, I took a longer break and I didn't fill my break with drives to Qld which normally exhaust me and make me feel I really haven't had a break. No this holiday I relaxed and I spent lots of time at the beach and quality time with my family. So it's not because I didn't have a good holiday.
I think it might be a combination of things. Currently I don't have enough relief staff so I am constantly on edge that someone is going to get sick and we'll have no one to back fill.
One of my long term, highly organised staff members is off sick, so it has been hard to pick up the things that they would normally do without thinking.
I'm also involved in another project at work that I'm having an internal battle trying to devote time to - also trying to get my head around exactly how to tackle it and get it done in the very tight deadline is stressful. I'm also supposed to be able to pull myself out of my day job to complete this - but that brings me back to the lack of relief staff.
Other things that may be at play are the fact that I do keep an eye on what jobs are going in the library industry and often find a job that I think would be much better than the one I'm in now - be it to be closer to family and friends, less responsibility, higher pay, better conditions, etc. So there have been a few that have come up recently that I have thought maybe I should go for them. But in reality I'm probably only trying to run away from this situation and is the grass really greener elsewhere?!?
I am coming up to having been in this job for 5 years. In the past I always had a 3 year rule - no more than 3 years in the same job. However, since having a child and she is in school, I have longed for somewhere to be long term. To be in the same place so that we don't have to move and Miss A doesn't have to change schools and I'll actually get to get one of those certificates saying I've been in an organisation for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years etc. To actually be somewhere long enough to make some big changes or go through some big changes and come out the other side better than before.
That said, there are some big changes happening - restructure, possible (probably more like inevitable) changes to local government models/boundaries in NSW, the never ending battle for funding. And for me that creates a feeling of uncertainty. What happens if my job no longer exists - what then?
Of course, I then kick myself for being worried about something that has not happened yet.
So I'm sorry for this post being so personal and probably a bit depressing, but I felt I had to write down how I am feeling and see if it gives me a light at the end of the tunnel moment.
And perhaps it has, because when I drive to work this morning and I go over the river and past the beautiful scenery which may be a bit muddy and wet at the moment, I'm sure to feel lucky to live here. And if I think about what we did over the holidays - is it really so bad that I should give up this lifestyle?? Is it really as bad as it seems??
Honestly, I think I'm just going through a phase but I really hope that it hurry's up and passes me by.
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Blog December Post 25/Blog 12DaysofChristmas Post 1 - Initiative
Today's Destiny Card is Initiative.
Initiative:
The ability to assess and initiate things independently.
The power or opportunity to act or take charge before others do.
(Photo above is looking over Coffs Harbour Jetty and Muttonbird Island)
We then went home and had a rather plain Christmas day lunch of toasted sandwiches and quickly drove 5 minutes up the road to Hungry Head beach for an afternoon swim. We spent two hours splashing in the waves and it was a great way to finish Christmas day.
What I have found by having my husband's friend visit us, is that I'm getting to look at my backyard through fresh eyes and re-evaluating why we love living here.
As I sit here and hear the thunder roll off the mountains (and pray we will get some rain), I think how lucky I am to be living in this beautiful place. Unfortunately we all have times where we get caught up in the stresses of work and economic pressure and forget to look around us and see what we have.
I have a beautiful family (who are all in good health) and we live in a beautiful place - what more could I ask for??!! Merry Christmas everyone!!
(Photo above - me and my beautiful family)
Initiative:
On the first of December I decided to take the initiative to challenge myself by blogging everyday of December. I have noted some twitter friends of mine have taken the initiative to blog the 12 Days of Christmas - @jobeaz and @KRidwyn and I'm sure there are others on my twitter list that will join in - just look for #blog12daysxmas
I took part in #blog12daysxmas last year and found it an excellent initiative to force me to reflect on things - well at least for 12 days and that is what lead into #blogDecember for me this year - I wanted to see if I could go for more than 12 days. So I am going to take the initiative and make my #blogDecember posts merge with #blog12daysxmas posts.
So on the first day of Christmas.... We took our guest, a very long time friend of my husbands, for a drive to Sawtell and Boambee (just South of Coffs Harbour and North of us at Urunga). There are two great lookouts in these towns (suburbs of Coffs) that overlook the ocean and Sawtell has an ocean tidal pool.
(Photo above is the tidal pool at Sawtell)
From there we drove to the Coffs Harbour Jetty precient and went to the lookout there - it looks over the Jetty and Muttonbird Island.
We then went home and had a rather plain Christmas day lunch of toasted sandwiches and quickly drove 5 minutes up the road to Hungry Head beach for an afternoon swim. We spent two hours splashing in the waves and it was a great way to finish Christmas day.
What I have found by having my husband's friend visit us, is that I'm getting to look at my backyard through fresh eyes and re-evaluating why we love living here.
As I sit here and hear the thunder roll off the mountains (and pray we will get some rain), I think how lucky I am to be living in this beautiful place. Unfortunately we all have times where we get caught up in the stresses of work and economic pressure and forget to look around us and see what we have.
I have a beautiful family (who are all in good health) and we live in a beautiful place - what more could I ask for??!! Merry Christmas everyone!!
Friday, December 7, 2012
Blog December Post 8 - Born to Read
Yesterday I visited my parents down at their caravan and dad was in the van, on the bed reading a book. This prompted me to think about how, growing up as a kid, I saw my parents read a lot. My dad would sit in the lounge and read a book often, mum would wait till she was going to bed.
There was a period of time where I don't remember seeing mum read books, but she now reads more frequently then when I was growing up.
The point being is that I grew up in a family of readers. My brother and sister read a lot and of course, that meant that I ended up a reader. Although I have heard of cases where everyone reads in the family but one member doesn't so perhaps reading doesn't automatically flow on from having a family of readers - but I'm sure it helps.
As any reader, I have fond memories of books. I remember when I was very little we went into Brisbane - which was a big thing for us as we didn't go there much as kids. And it must have been around Christmas time as I remember lots of decorations hanging across the road.
We went into a book store and all of us kids were allowed to buy a book. I bought The Clock Book about how to tell the time. I believe my sister bought Amelia Bedelia - I really love that book!!
Later I remember Tiki Tiki Tembo.
And Meg and Mog.
At school we had book club and mum allowed us to purchase a book each time. They were all Penguin books and would come in a plastic bag with a Penguin logo on it - I loved getting book club!!
Now I love sharing the joy of reading with my daughter - who apparently could read before starting school but would never read to me - just to everyone else!!
I have already shared with her some of my favourite childhood books but Tiki Tiki Tembo I haven't been able to locate and buy yet, nor the original Amelia Bedelia.
Anyway, it seems apt to put some reading memory post in as the National Year of Reading comes to a close.
What are your reading memories?
There was a period of time where I don't remember seeing mum read books, but she now reads more frequently then when I was growing up.
The point being is that I grew up in a family of readers. My brother and sister read a lot and of course, that meant that I ended up a reader. Although I have heard of cases where everyone reads in the family but one member doesn't so perhaps reading doesn't automatically flow on from having a family of readers - but I'm sure it helps.
As any reader, I have fond memories of books. I remember when I was very little we went into Brisbane - which was a big thing for us as we didn't go there much as kids. And it must have been around Christmas time as I remember lots of decorations hanging across the road.
We went into a book store and all of us kids were allowed to buy a book. I bought The Clock Book about how to tell the time. I believe my sister bought Amelia Bedelia - I really love that book!!
Later I remember Tiki Tiki Tembo.
And Meg and Mog.
At school we had book club and mum allowed us to purchase a book each time. They were all Penguin books and would come in a plastic bag with a Penguin logo on it - I loved getting book club!!
Now I love sharing the joy of reading with my daughter - who apparently could read before starting school but would never read to me - just to everyone else!!
I have already shared with her some of my favourite childhood books but Tiki Tiki Tembo I haven't been able to locate and buy yet, nor the original Amelia Bedelia.
Anyway, it seems apt to put some reading memory post in as the National Year of Reading comes to a close.
What are your reading memories?
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Appreciation
Finally, the final installment of the #blog12daysxmas has finally arrived. Sorry for the delay but I have been in Qld for the last week and my tablet would not let me type in blogger - will have to sort that out.
In this post I'm going to focus on appreciation because most of my other posts have been focusing on negatives, so now for some positives.
After visiting Qld and experiencing the wonderful 35-42'C temperatures - I appreciate being home where today brings us a top of 25'C. It didn't take me long to appreciate where I live after being in Qld a week. I know that there had been some nice cooler temperatures before I arrived but it didn't take long for me to remember the constant sweat of the Qld summer. I used to love it but I must be climatising!! 8-)
It was great to catch up with my family and good friends and I appreciate that they took the time out from their regular routines to make time for me. I wish they could all relocate here but seeing them so few times a year makes me appreciate them more!!
This time last year I was in Qld and I was "stuck" due to the floods. I remember feeling helpless as I wasn't able to assist anyone and I was more concerned with getting home to my husband then hanging around during the clean up. Watching people talking about how their homes and loved ones were washed away made me appreciate my family and friends even more. While it floods often here, the flooding in Qld was much different.
You may have heard about the terrible accident that happened in Urunga while I was in Qld. A B double truck ran into a ute and some houses and killed 2 people, one of them an 11 yr old boy who was on holidays from Sydney. I can not begin to fatham how their loved ones feel but again it makes me appreciate what I've got.
Those of you who are mums/dads will understand when I say that you can spend a lot of time imagining the worst things that could happen to your child(ren). It tears you up and you want to lock them inside and not let them do anything. The fear grips you. But you must let go and let them experience life - including the times where they may experience hurt and pain. I appreciate that so far life has been kind to me and has not let anything bad happen to my child nor my family.
There are many many other things that I appreciate but I will finish by saying that I appreciate those that have taken the time to read my #blog12daysxmas and I hope that my motivation continues throughout the year to continue to blog.
In this post I'm going to focus on appreciation because most of my other posts have been focusing on negatives, so now for some positives.
After visiting Qld and experiencing the wonderful 35-42'C temperatures - I appreciate being home where today brings us a top of 25'C. It didn't take me long to appreciate where I live after being in Qld a week. I know that there had been some nice cooler temperatures before I arrived but it didn't take long for me to remember the constant sweat of the Qld summer. I used to love it but I must be climatising!! 8-)
It was great to catch up with my family and good friends and I appreciate that they took the time out from their regular routines to make time for me. I wish they could all relocate here but seeing them so few times a year makes me appreciate them more!!
This time last year I was in Qld and I was "stuck" due to the floods. I remember feeling helpless as I wasn't able to assist anyone and I was more concerned with getting home to my husband then hanging around during the clean up. Watching people talking about how their homes and loved ones were washed away made me appreciate my family and friends even more. While it floods often here, the flooding in Qld was much different.
You may have heard about the terrible accident that happened in Urunga while I was in Qld. A B double truck ran into a ute and some houses and killed 2 people, one of them an 11 yr old boy who was on holidays from Sydney. I can not begin to fatham how their loved ones feel but again it makes me appreciate what I've got.
Those of you who are mums/dads will understand when I say that you can spend a lot of time imagining the worst things that could happen to your child(ren). It tears you up and you want to lock them inside and not let them do anything. The fear grips you. But you must let go and let them experience life - including the times where they may experience hurt and pain. I appreciate that so far life has been kind to me and has not let anything bad happen to my child nor my family.
There are many many other things that I appreciate but I will finish by saying that I appreciate those that have taken the time to read my #blog12daysxmas and I hope that my motivation continues throughout the year to continue to blog.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
What brought you here?
I get asked this question a lot - especially when I mention that I'm originally from Qld. Well today I will share the story.
Ok back in 2006, I took 12 months maternity leave. After that was finished I didn't return to my previous POW and managed to pick up some casual work which lead into a relieving position for a staff member on leave. This was to be for 12mths.
While I really enjoyed working there, I realised that there was a high possibility of there being no full time, permanent position for me once the 12mths were up so I continued to scan the job market. Also, on the home front things were not going well. We had some neighbours that were intent on making life not too comfortable. This was resulting in a lot of stress and the realisation that perhaps this wasn't the place we'd like to raise a child.
Low and behold an add for my current position appeared in my work email inbox. It is quite funny because I recall it was on an elist that I have no recollection of subscribing to. Perhaps it was meant to be.
The position was a manager/supervisor role and I had not yet graduated from my BALIS - however I did have my LT quals and 15 years library experience. So I thought I'll give it a go. Let it be known that I had no idea where Bellingen was. My husband and I did a bit of research and discovered that it wasn't far South of Iluka - we had frequently spent holidays at Iluka and also had our honeymoon there. We always wanted to live there. So I thought it would probably be a nice place.
Well I got an interview, which I did over the phone and thought I'd totally stuffed it up. But then got asked to come and meet face to face. They organised for this to be done at Grafton so we wouldn't have to travel so far. We only had the Friday and Saturday as I had to work on Sunday so we decided that regardless of the outcome we would travel to Bellingen after the interview and stay overnight - just to check it out.
I got offered the job and we had a very surreal overnight stay in Bellingen. Reality hit when we got home and realised we had only 6 weeks to relocate interstate and put our house on the market.
Rental accommodation in Bellingen is hard to come by so it wasn't until the week before moving that we had secured a house. Talk about stressful!! But if it is meant to be then it will work out.
We have been living down here for just over 3 years now. We bought a house in Urunga which we are currently doing minor renovations to and I'm really enjoying it here. This is not to say I don't miss my family and friends back in Qld.
The hardest thing I have found down here is making good friends. In Qld I had a really supportive mother's group and some library professionals that are good friends. I miss my regular interaction with these people and am yet to find the same network here.
I don't miss the traffic, pollution, dodgy neighbours, constant road works (although with any luck we will be having some road works in the near future to relocate the highway from our town), shopping (ok I miss it a little bit) and crowds.
So this is how I got to be where I am. I am heading up to Qld, with my daughter for a holiday today - which is why I am up at 5am. I will emerse myself in city life and enjoy it while I'm there. I have a packed schedule to ensure I catch up with family and friends - especially those I missed last year due to the floods - yes I was in Qld during the floods last year but that's a whole other story. And then I will return to my haven here and think how lucky I am to live here.
So how did you get to where you are now?
PS I will be entering into a place where I will have limited internet access so will try to post the final post for #blog12daysxmas tomorrow.
Ok back in 2006, I took 12 months maternity leave. After that was finished I didn't return to my previous POW and managed to pick up some casual work which lead into a relieving position for a staff member on leave. This was to be for 12mths.
While I really enjoyed working there, I realised that there was a high possibility of there being no full time, permanent position for me once the 12mths were up so I continued to scan the job market. Also, on the home front things were not going well. We had some neighbours that were intent on making life not too comfortable. This was resulting in a lot of stress and the realisation that perhaps this wasn't the place we'd like to raise a child.
Low and behold an add for my current position appeared in my work email inbox. It is quite funny because I recall it was on an elist that I have no recollection of subscribing to. Perhaps it was meant to be.
The position was a manager/supervisor role and I had not yet graduated from my BALIS - however I did have my LT quals and 15 years library experience. So I thought I'll give it a go. Let it be known that I had no idea where Bellingen was. My husband and I did a bit of research and discovered that it wasn't far South of Iluka - we had frequently spent holidays at Iluka and also had our honeymoon there. We always wanted to live there. So I thought it would probably be a nice place.
Well I got an interview, which I did over the phone and thought I'd totally stuffed it up. But then got asked to come and meet face to face. They organised for this to be done at Grafton so we wouldn't have to travel so far. We only had the Friday and Saturday as I had to work on Sunday so we decided that regardless of the outcome we would travel to Bellingen after the interview and stay overnight - just to check it out.
I got offered the job and we had a very surreal overnight stay in Bellingen. Reality hit when we got home and realised we had only 6 weeks to relocate interstate and put our house on the market.
Rental accommodation in Bellingen is hard to come by so it wasn't until the week before moving that we had secured a house. Talk about stressful!! But if it is meant to be then it will work out.
We have been living down here for just over 3 years now. We bought a house in Urunga which we are currently doing minor renovations to and I'm really enjoying it here. This is not to say I don't miss my family and friends back in Qld.
The hardest thing I have found down here is making good friends. In Qld I had a really supportive mother's group and some library professionals that are good friends. I miss my regular interaction with these people and am yet to find the same network here.
I don't miss the traffic, pollution, dodgy neighbours, constant road works (although with any luck we will be having some road works in the near future to relocate the highway from our town), shopping (ok I miss it a little bit) and crowds.
So this is how I got to be where I am. I am heading up to Qld, with my daughter for a holiday today - which is why I am up at 5am. I will emerse myself in city life and enjoy it while I'm there. I have a packed schedule to ensure I catch up with family and friends - especially those I missed last year due to the floods - yes I was in Qld during the floods last year but that's a whole other story. And then I will return to my haven here and think how lucky I am to live here.
So how did you get to where you are now?
PS I will be entering into a place where I will have limited internet access so will try to post the final post for #blog12daysxmas tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Work Life Balance
http://shewgirl.blogspot.com/ got me started thinking about work life balance. While her blog post focused on web 2.0 tools and how they can help organise/disorganise your life - mine is probably more focused on balancing family time with work commitments.
I have constantly struggled with this. I was studying when it was decided (not really that harsh but probably something that had to happen) that we should have a child. I wanted to wait till I had finished but yes in reality there probably would always be some excuse for putting it off. I'm not sure what I was scared of or why I really wanted to wait but as it happened it didn't take long to get pregnant so I continued studying with young child. Perhaps it was a lesson in time management.
I had 12 wonderful months with my little miss but I missed my professional life. Was I wrong in missing it? Was I guilty about wanting to go back to work and not stay at home with a little one? Hell yes but the longer I was away from work the more behind I was feeling. Sure I was staying up to date with things the best I could - reading professional journals, participating in email discussions, blogging, researching, writing conference papers - but I was not interacting with people as a professional. I was interacting with other professionals but I wasn't doing what I love to do - help people find what they are looking for.
So going back to work was a great relief to me - yes it killed me putting my little miss in care and there were days when I just wanted to be at home with her. But the absolute joy of being back in a library as a professional just made me feel human again.
However, I used to be a great attender of networking/professional events. Having a child makes that a little more difficult - you can't always bring them along and you can't always expect your partner to take up the babysitting role.
Email interaction can only satisify so much of the need. I was missing that connection. Now moving to a regional area I miss it even more because the opportunity for networking opportunities is not as abundant as in metropolitan areas.
I have often thought of returning to study - but I miss spending time with my family. Working full time and often coming home and not wanting to do much more than read a book - does not equal quality family time. How do you balance it?
I'm in no way upset with my partner - if the tables were turned I'm not sure how accommodating I would be - I've been lucky enough to spend days away at conferences and catch really early flights and really late flights home with him taking on the family duties. But it is really hard when you want to participate professionally but don't want to impact on family time.
I often resort to times like this - it's late (I'm not a night person) and I'm here blogging when the family is asleep. Otherwise I get up really early and do the same. But there are times when I want to do things that may mean staying back after work or sacrificing weekends where I feel too damned guilty to take it on.
I'd love others to share ways that they have remained professionally active but still maintained the family balance.
I have constantly struggled with this. I was studying when it was decided (not really that harsh but probably something that had to happen) that we should have a child. I wanted to wait till I had finished but yes in reality there probably would always be some excuse for putting it off. I'm not sure what I was scared of or why I really wanted to wait but as it happened it didn't take long to get pregnant so I continued studying with young child. Perhaps it was a lesson in time management.
I had 12 wonderful months with my little miss but I missed my professional life. Was I wrong in missing it? Was I guilty about wanting to go back to work and not stay at home with a little one? Hell yes but the longer I was away from work the more behind I was feeling. Sure I was staying up to date with things the best I could - reading professional journals, participating in email discussions, blogging, researching, writing conference papers - but I was not interacting with people as a professional. I was interacting with other professionals but I wasn't doing what I love to do - help people find what they are looking for.
So going back to work was a great relief to me - yes it killed me putting my little miss in care and there were days when I just wanted to be at home with her. But the absolute joy of being back in a library as a professional just made me feel human again.
However, I used to be a great attender of networking/professional events. Having a child makes that a little more difficult - you can't always bring them along and you can't always expect your partner to take up the babysitting role.
Email interaction can only satisify so much of the need. I was missing that connection. Now moving to a regional area I miss it even more because the opportunity for networking opportunities is not as abundant as in metropolitan areas.
I have often thought of returning to study - but I miss spending time with my family. Working full time and often coming home and not wanting to do much more than read a book - does not equal quality family time. How do you balance it?
I'm in no way upset with my partner - if the tables were turned I'm not sure how accommodating I would be - I've been lucky enough to spend days away at conferences and catch really early flights and really late flights home with him taking on the family duties. But it is really hard when you want to participate professionally but don't want to impact on family time.
I often resort to times like this - it's late (I'm not a night person) and I'm here blogging when the family is asleep. Otherwise I get up really early and do the same. But there are times when I want to do things that may mean staying back after work or sacrificing weekends where I feel too damned guilty to take it on.
I'd love others to share ways that they have remained professionally active but still maintained the family balance.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)