When I started this blog about a year ago, I was excited. I was anxious to start writing again and the idea of doing it for my pure enjoyment was refreshing. However, as you may be able to see by my measly two posts last year, I took on a little more than I could handle.
At this time, I was a new mom trying to navigate this new season of life. I was going to use this as an outlet to share some of my insights, struggles, and recommendations, but a few of new things came our way. Soon after starting my blog a new job opportunity came my way. After some whirlwind discussion with this new job, my husband, and my previous employer I decided to take the opportunity. This job came with a lot of new responsibilities, all of which I was excited for, but I now had to figure out how to navigate this new role and still be the present mom, wife, and the student I aspired to be. In all honestly, I am still trying to figure it all out, but I finally feel a little more settled and I am ready to start prioritizing myself a little more.
In addition to the new job, Nick and I started to feel that our starter home was getting too small for us, a toddler, and dog. We loved the starter home we were in including the location and all the renovations we had done to make it ours, but we started to feel a little suffocated. As you may remember back in April of 2022 the market was hot and we knew if we were going to sell now was the time. We put our house on the market and sold it that weekend. We were ecstatic as any seller would be, but now the house hunting started all along with a new job.
We moved in with Nick’s parents, whom I have to say are angels for letting us come in with a 1-year-old and 100-pound dog. The market was a seller’s market at the time, and it took us four months to find our perfect home. The process was exciting, exhausting, and frustrating all at the same time. We looked at over 20 homes and towards the end I was getting very discouraged. I thought we were going to have to settle for something we did not love, but Nick was a rock and kept reminding me we would find something —although I could see the frustration starting to sneak in on him as well. But after months of looking with a fantastic and patient agent, we found our perfect home!
We moved in August of 2022 and have spent the last year making this new home ours and we absolutely love it! In this past year I also graduated with my MBA and have been raising a smart, independent, and somewhat sassy toddler. The last year and a half have been a lot but I am excited to get back to writing and creating a positive space for other working moms.
A few things I learned during my time off that I thought I would share:
- Create a Support System – this can be friends, family, colleagues, or even an online forum, but when you are going through stressful and hard times it is important to have people to talk to. I am fortunate to have a great family for this but also utilized friends and classmates to help me through.
- Take Time to Focus on Yourself – Make sure you understand the season of life you are in and what all you can take on. You cannot be everything to everyone so it is okay to take a break from some areas to focus on others.
- Be Willing to Adjust – This is a hard one for me. I like things planned out and organized but sometimes life doesn’t work that way. Go with the flow and trust the process.
- Take New Opportunities – New opportunities might come your way at a not so convenient time, but don’t let timing deter you from exploring them. You never know where it could lead.
- Don’t settle – Whether it is for material items, relationships, careers, etc. you know what you are worth and what you deserve. Don’t settle for less because someone tells you to or it is the easy way out.
Simply Schasch 