This SAHM is Now a Mom Returning to the Workforce

As a mother, we all have periods in our life where we feel as though we need to make a a change – that things need to be different. Sometimes it is hard to be able to distinguish just what to let go of and what to hold onto though – especially when you feel as though you might be letting others down by the decision that you make.

My Focus as a Stay-At-Home Mom

I have been blogging online since 2004, professionally since 2012, and I have loved every minute of it. However, this past year and everything that we have dealt with as far as the adolescent residential treatment centers and mental health issues with my eldest son, and then the legal battles my youngest son got himself embroiled in because he cannot control his anger and the urge to fight anyone and everyone for the slightest showing of “disrespect” towards him, have led me to my current state of mind and circumstances.

Branching Out Into a New Adventure

I started a new job on June 28, 2018 at our local Fas Mart store across the street. It isn’t a cushy desk job, I’m on my feet for 6 to 8 hours with a few breaks here and there but rarely a chance to sit down. The work is not hard, but getting my body to adjust to the constant standing and movement (versus being on my computer, sitting on my toosh for 10-12 hours a day) has been HUGE. When I get home, I am literally so exhausted I can barely think straight. There have been days since I started where I have to count out my register 4 or 5 times at the end of my shift because my brain is just not able to comprehend what I’m doing – or I’m just really, really bad at math! 🙂

But you want to know something? I absolutely love it. I’ve always been a people person, so interacting with so many different people each day and learning their preferences has been exciting for me. Not to mention it is a steady, weekly paycheck that I can count on. After being a stay-at-home mom for the past 15 years, it was time for me to return to the workforce. 

What Being a Stay-At-Home Mom Has Taught Me

Being a stay-at-home mom for all these years has taught me plenty. I have also made a huge amount of mistakes when it came to raising my kids. I’m not a perfect mom, even though at the time I tried to protect my children from all the consequences of their actions thinking that is what a “good mom” would do. Shielding them from the consequences of their actions – whatever they may have been – has just made their lives, and ours, that much more difficult. When you don’t allow your children to deal with the consequences of their actions they grow up to be young adults who think that there are no consequences for their actions.

In treating my children as though they were not accountable for their actions, that their diagnosis was an “excuse” that they could use to get out of whatever trouble they got themselves in to, I have done more harm than good – for both of them. It is a lesson that we all are learning and walking through at the moment. Since I have returned to work; however, there are set rules for what each of the children are responsible for each day while their father and I are at work and there are set consequences for what happens if those responsibilities are not taken care of.

Where I’m At Today

The past several months I’ve been feeling a calling – a sense that I needed to “shake things up” a bit and do something different. So I decided that getting out of the house and being more active would not only be good for my health, but would eventually help to take some of the stress off of my husband who has been shouldering almost all of the large expenses for our household for the past 15 years. 

Even though it has only been approximately 13 days that I’ve been employed, I have realized that there are some things that I will need to relinquish in order to keep from spreading myself too thin. So there will be a few Facebook groups that I will be closing or turning over management to others, there will most likely be fewer blog posts (since I usually only have two days a week off), but I am hoping that you will stick with me. There will be more personal, from-the-heart posts, I am still planning on keeping up our Friday Finds and Sunday’s Best Linkup posts, and I will still share my love of home decor and travel with all of you. Who knows, we might even be able to squeeze in a family vacation sometime this year!

This is something I need to do for me. I have already felt a shift in my perspective, in my goals, in what I feel is important and worthy of my time. My husband has been surprisingly supportive (after his initial fears and begging for me NOT to take the job lol) and for that I am grateful – because his support helps me to do what I need to do each day.

So, while the changes may be a bit of a shakeup at first, I hope that you will continue this next leg of my journey with me. I am not leaving – I love writing and sharing with each of you far too much for that to happen – but my shares will most likely be longer but less frequent than before.

If you have been a stay-at-home mom for ten years or more and returned to the workforce, I would love some insight on how well you adjusted, what you found most difficult to deal with and how you are, or have, overcome those difficulties.

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