As a way to kick-start 2016 on a fresh slate, I spent the past week cleaning my home office and rearranging the furniture to create a comfortable work environment.
View of my office from the door
I'm very pleased with the result - it has the tools I need to brainstorm, write and track projects. It also provides me with the space to organise my life and hobby projects.
So when Sarah from
I have always been a free bird, doing something the hard way... a hundred times to get it done, impulse buyer and doer, and I love to organize but hate to follow organization/schedules. So when we had Norah on top of all this, I felt a bit topsy turvy. How do you stay full time mom, full time artist, and full time wife?
Help. Lots and lots of help.I'm sitting here writing this post as my mom does my dishes. It's something she truly enjoys doing for us on a monthly basis (often times twice a month). And it's
AH MA ZING! There are many Fridays where she leaves work early and comes to give Norah hugs and kisses (and books, and play, and animal sounds, and walks), that frees me up for an hour or two. Big help.
On Tuesdays my mother in law, Karen, watches Norah for several hours in the morning. A good chunk of time to get some painting done, and Norah gets a lot of snuggly hugs.
Wednesdays I have my dear friend Andi come and watch her for several hours in the morning with coffee and then we all do lunch.
On Thursdays my sister in law, Joni, watches her for a couple hours while I go sit at a coffee shop and breathe. When my niece and nephew get out of school the cousins hang out for a bit together. Great family time.
My sister, other friends, and our parents will help watch her in the evenings so Brian and I can have date nights.
And then there's my hubby. He does so much! After a long day at work he comes home, grabs Norah out of my hands, and he's on daddy duty for the rest of the night. I can get so much done because of his willingness to do the evenings. Same with the weekends, we alternate.
I am always curious as to how stay at home moms who are also artists get their work done with a baby/toddler around. Norah has gotten to a stage where I can get very little done while she is awake and I have to give in to that.
I WANT to give in to that and watch her explore, learning about the world around her.
I would not be able to get what I get done without the help of others. I know some who do, and that just blows me away. I applaud them with a standing ovation because I know myself well enough I would overheat and give up. My discipline still has strides of work to go in the field of 'getting it done'. It takes a lot of practice!
I have messed up in my business because of the many, many tasks I do, I have allowed Norah to watch tv so I can get a task done, I have even let her stay in the crib wanting out after a nap just to finish up an
Etsy listing (I am aware these are very
normal events all of us parents do), I have mailed orders out later than intended because I simply got overwhelmed and forgot, and I have checks that have sat around waiting to be deposited from months ago.
I'm not ashamed, and won't be. I will be realistic that life happens, and stuff needs to get done. My daughter has me all of the time, and I give almost just as much into my marriage and business. I think we're good. I say it all the time, but it never seems like enough....
I am
SO BLESSED to have the life, the people, the husband, and the time I have today.
Wow. So good!
How do you manage life?My situation is we can't afford childcare or babysitters, and I understand everyones situation or circumstance is very different from the other. This is how we make it work.
A very warm welcome to Gaynor Paynter, a writer and transcriptionist living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Gaynor is one of the very good friends that I made online.We "met" on a forum women who work at home in 2000, I think. Met once in person around 2002/3, and by some twist of fate, recently ended up living near each other.More than being a friend, Gaynor has a thorough understanding of the
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Good point, Gaynor.<br /><br />I find that women are particularly reluctant to lend each other a hand in the workplace. We're great at empathy in our personal lives, but it seems like many women still feel the need to prove themselves in the work place and so they compete against each other instead of supporting each other.<br /><br />Just my opinion.
Thanks Damaria and Gaynor.<br /><br />It is great to know that there is such a wonderful support system out there for us inexperienced VA's.<br /><br />Before I found TAVASA I knew no-one in South Africa who I could speak to about this industry.<br /><br />Thank you for sharing your knowledge so willingly.
Thanks Damaria and Gaynor.<br /><br />While I've been in the business a while it wasn't till I found TAVASA that I felt I was no longer alone. I fully agree that having a reliable network of support is probably vital to the smooth running of a small business.
@ Tamara - so right. Sometimes women in the workplace can be a real hindrance to each other. I myself never saw the point of this. Particularly in our virtual industries and work from home industries, I believe our networks and contacts are kind of like our virtual office - in a way. Yes, we compete but it's kind of like an experienced artisan taking on an appie. If we don't teach people
@ Sandra - it's a pleasure, and newbies make valuable contributions too, even though they may not realise it - they keep us sharp with what the current challenges and questions are.<br />@ Trish - Yep. We need it to vent the frustrations. I love the fact that I've been able to make so many different contacts in different professions and we all have some sort of common challenges and yet