As working Mums we can feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done at home, even after we’ve done a full day’s work elsewhere. The juggle can be a real struggle and can feel overwhelming, at times.
If that sounds like your life – maybe you need a High Five! In the early days of being a Mum I tried desperately to get an equal balance between every aspect of my life. And failed miserably. I remember talking to my friend Julie about it, who had a 6 year old son and therefore, six years more experienced in her working Mummy life than I was.
Julie listened very sympathetically to my gripes and grouches and then asked: “Before you became a Mum, did you always get everything done?” I huffed and puffed and blustered (I’m good at that)….but the fact of the matter was, when I thought about it, I was never “all done.”
Between working and running a home, there was always another washload to do. Always some emails to respond to. Always food shopping to buy. And take home. And put away. But since becoming a Mum, I’d allowed the existence of this little bundle of pooping joy to swamp me with guilt over the things I wasn’t doing. Yet before she was born, there were many times - okay, hundreds - when I’d throw together a basic pasta meal with some sauce, because I was too busy to do anything else. And my husband and I enjoyed those meals!
Yet now, with a baby on my hip, I felt guilty serving up the same sort of meal, as if somehow I was failing in my role as a wife! There is always, always something else to do, ESPECIALLY as a working mom. So I created my High Five rule. And that is – what are FIVE things that absolutely need to get done today? They could be:
1. Do food shopping (either physically or online)
2. Wash and change bed linen
3. Clean the small bathroom
4. Prepare the ingredients for the evening meal
5. Call Insurance company to update insurance
Okay, the oven still needs cleaning and so does the kitchen. There’s still ironing to do. I know there are handprints all over the doors. All of that was there yesterday and we’re all still alive! On my friends wall is a plaque, which reads: “Our home is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy.” Amen to that, girl.
By setting yourself a High Five list, its so gratifying when you can cross the tasks off when they’re done! We girls do like lists to cross off, don’t we?!! It helps our sense of achievement, our feeling of getting things done and it gives us permission to not feel guilty about chilling out with the kids and having some fun with them, or with your partner, or – and here’s a radical thought – actually having some “me time”. Which is just as important as any shirt which needs ironing – believe me.
High Fives all round
Printer-friendly version