Five years ago, I did one of the most shocking things in my life ... I bought a pair of yoga pants. I also left my job to “spend more time with my family.” (I constantly had to explain to curious on lookers, “no, seriously, I DO want to spend more time with my kids - there is no intrigue here.”) I also had to explain I was not “retiring” but rather, taking a sabbatical. “Oh, that’s nice the railroad provides time for sabbaticals.” “Well, I’m calling it a sabbatical, the railroad just calls it quitting your job.”
Part of my transition from career-focused to SAHM, included buying yoga pants and Starbucks. I deduced they were part of the “company culture” for SAHMs from the library’s baby class. But I just couldn’t pull off athelesuire wear. I didn’t like the mocochocobullshit drinks. I realized if I was going to survive this chapter of my life, I was going to have to build a roadmap that work from me. Which lead me to strategic volunteering, more writing and communications consulting, and doubling down on the “Mom” title.
I started running my house the way I run my office. The kids had a schedule which outlined the activities for the week. We also had a meeting to review the upcoming events, discuss things to work on and praise accomplishments. I personal-developmented the heck out of the kids. Potty-training is hard. But once it becomes Project Potty-Training, it becomes doable.
The last five years weren’t all content creation and child rearing. I also spent time on my own personal development. I recently looked back at the list of things I accomplished and some themes emerged.
Turning skill into mastery - Out of necessity, I learned how to cook. Once I had achieved the skill, I went into overdrive turning my “good” meals into delicious. The same went for freelancing. I had always prided myself on being able switch writing tones, but with the amount of Op/Ed pieces that came my way, I became a master ghostwriter of the 500 word think piece.
Outside of comfort zone - You can say taking a career offramp was outside my comfort zone. The last five years are a laundry list of I-never-thought-I-would-be-doing-this. There were activities, like taking and improv class. And then there were big stretches, for example making friends as an adult. Anyone who has built a friendship after the age of 30 knows it’s a monumental accomplishment. Therefore, I truly believe the motley group of friends I made these last few years will last a lifetime.
New skills - Yes, I am a Mommy Ninja. And I’m a Communications Master. But, I was able to go beyond the baseline of social media to the world of analytics. I am now “intermediate” in Search Engine Optimization. Give me an hour with my Mac and I can give you a video guaranteed to increase your click rates. These were skills that I was able to learn because I had the space. I also understood I would re-emerge from my sabbatical in a different landscape, so I had to teach myself how to integrate new technologies into communications plans.
There is life after kids - I was ready to write off fun as soon as I started a family, but unbeknownst to me you can have fun and a family. You can even have fun with the family. We got the confidence to travel with kids and were amazed to learn our kids travel well. I also learned one babysitter plus one Uber equals one fun night out at a concert. (You don’t have to stay for the encore! Leave the show early, arrive home at a reasonable time, and get enough sleep to function the next day.) Also, with kids, playing make-believe with a box can provide hours of cheap entertainment.
These lessons and others that I have learned in the past five years will serve me well as I begin this new chapter:
Maricopa County Department of Transportation Public Information Office Manager:
Where the road leads
I start the new gig next week. I am delighted I get to work with some really great people. Arizona is a small state and there is a tightknit transportation clique.
I would like to say something profound like “I will need to pull back on my blog in order to focus on learning my new job.” The problem is, I’ve never been very good at consistently blogging anyway, so you won’t miss much.
At the beginning of the year, I got a hole in my Yoga pants. I tend to see such things as signs. Welp, I guess this officially concludes the end of my “sabbatical.” I did buy a new pair of yoga pants. I may need them for the weekend.
Part of my transition from career-focused to SAHM, included buying yoga pants and Starbucks. I deduced they were part of the “company culture” for SAHMs from the library’s baby class. But I just couldn’t pull off athelesuire wear. I didn’t like the mocochocobullshit drinks. I realized if I was going to survive this chapter of my life, I was going to have to build a roadmap that work from me. Which lead me to strategic volunteering, more writing and communications consulting, and doubling down on the “Mom” title.
I started running my house the way I run my office. The kids had a schedule which outlined the activities for the week. We also had a meeting to review the upcoming events, discuss things to work on and praise accomplishments. I personal-developmented the heck out of the kids. Potty-training is hard. But once it becomes Project Potty-Training, it becomes doable.
The last five years weren’t all content creation and child rearing. I also spent time on my own personal development. I recently looked back at the list of things I accomplished and some themes emerged.
Turning skill into mastery - Out of necessity, I learned how to cook. Once I had achieved the skill, I went into overdrive turning my “good” meals into delicious. The same went for freelancing. I had always prided myself on being able switch writing tones, but with the amount of Op/Ed pieces that came my way, I became a master ghostwriter of the 500 word think piece.
Outside of comfort zone - You can say taking a career offramp was outside my comfort zone. The last five years are a laundry list of I-never-thought-I-would-be-doing-this. There were activities, like taking and improv class. And then there were big stretches, for example making friends as an adult. Anyone who has built a friendship after the age of 30 knows it’s a monumental accomplishment. Therefore, I truly believe the motley group of friends I made these last few years will last a lifetime.
New skills - Yes, I am a Mommy Ninja. And I’m a Communications Master. But, I was able to go beyond the baseline of social media to the world of analytics. I am now “intermediate” in Search Engine Optimization. Give me an hour with my Mac and I can give you a video guaranteed to increase your click rates. These were skills that I was able to learn because I had the space. I also understood I would re-emerge from my sabbatical in a different landscape, so I had to teach myself how to integrate new technologies into communications plans.
There is life after kids - I was ready to write off fun as soon as I started a family, but unbeknownst to me you can have fun and a family. You can even have fun with the family. We got the confidence to travel with kids and were amazed to learn our kids travel well. I also learned one babysitter plus one Uber equals one fun night out at a concert. (You don’t have to stay for the encore! Leave the show early, arrive home at a reasonable time, and get enough sleep to function the next day.) Also, with kids, playing make-believe with a box can provide hours of cheap entertainment.
These lessons and others that I have learned in the past five years will serve me well as I begin this new chapter:
Maricopa County Department of Transportation Public Information Office Manager:
Where the road leads
I start the new gig next week. I am delighted I get to work with some really great people. Arizona is a small state and there is a tightknit transportation clique.
I would like to say something profound like “I will need to pull back on my blog in order to focus on learning my new job.” The problem is, I’ve never been very good at consistently blogging anyway, so you won’t miss much.
At the beginning of the year, I got a hole in my Yoga pants. I tend to see such things as signs. Welp, I guess this officially concludes the end of my “sabbatical.” I did buy a new pair of yoga pants. I may need them for the weekend.