Wednesday Wisdom

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is going to get a little deep.  It may seem like a pretty simple quote, and it is, but it has a new, more profound meaning for me these days.

Having Drew was the best thing that I have ever done in my life.  And staying home with him has been the right decision for me.  I feel lucky that I am in a position to be able to be a stay at home mom, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.  There are so many reasons why I think that both Drew and I will benefit from that decision, and I certainly don’t regret it for an instant.

That being said, it’s definitely been hard to leave the workforce.  As someone who has always been very success driven and motivated by achievement, becoming someone who doesn’t have a “job” in society’s eyes has been a definite change for me.  I’ve always been an over-achiever and have always worked extremely hard in any job that I’ve had so that I could be the best at whatever it was that I was doing.  That was always my goal, to always be the best I could be. 

I think leaving the workforce behind has caused me a little bit of an identity crises because I can no longer identify myself as a CPA, or a manager, or someone working to become the CFO of a company.  So what exactly am I now?  I spent many years in college, getting a master’s degree, passing the CPA exam, and working towards a successful business career, and I am no longer those things, and that’s been hard on me.  Was all of that work and effort I put in to become a successful business woman a waste?

I know that what I’m doing now is so much more important than becoming the CFO of a company, but it definitely comes with its challenges of not being considered a “real job” in many people’s eyes.  Being a stay at home mom is truthfully harder than any “job” that I’ve had, and sometimes I think it would just be easier to go back into the workforce.  It was easy for me to excel at accounting, because truthfully, it came pretty naturally to me.  I didn't have to work half as hard at being a good accountant as I have had to work at being a good mom.  The job of mom has no hours, no pay, and no room for advancement or promotion, which makes it at times a thankless job.  One that often gets overlooked as not being a job at all.  There is most certainly a stigma attached to “just” being a stay at home mom.

But I know that my son will benefit from me being an integral part of his life, and that’s exactly how I want it.   I need to remember to put those feelings aside that my new job doesn’t matter as much as a more traditional job, and be more focused on being the best darn mom, wife, and homemaker I can be.  Being a mom is every bit as important as being a CPA.  Whatever you are, be a good one.  I plan on doing just that in my new job as a stay at home mom!