The struggles of motherhood and juggling the work life balance

As a co-director of a small business I have to say the maternity package

is pretty dismal. Even lying in my hospital bed I was having emails read

out to me and being asked to brain storm some new blend ideas –

needless to say I wasn’t very creative that day....apart from the language

I used on Gareth.

So I never felt very removed from work shall we say. In all seriousness I

mostly wanted to be kept up to date with what was happening - I still

felt a part of the ride and that I was a useful, integral member of the

team.

Feeling valued as a person instead of purely as a mother was very

important to me. Being asked for my professional opinion kept me out of

the quagmire that can be the newborn stage and dragged my brain out

of the fog.

When my stretch marks and I decided to venture back to the workshop I

wasn’t overly worried. I felt that Gareth’s attempts to keep me informed

had vaguely trickled in and that all would be well.

However what I hadn’t considered was the disappearance of my

confidence. Somewhere in that time away I had lost belief in myself. I

knew the answers to queries but somehow my mouth wouldn’t form the

words. Instead I would find myself hesitating, deferring to others and

second-guessing myself. Despite being very prepared to go back to work

I felt vulnerable in the workplace and unsure of my role.

And if I felt this in my own company surrounded by kind people then

how must so many women be feeling having to re-enter faceless, cut-

throat corporations. That time away can be highly destructive of our

self-esteem and it is so important that we are nurtured and encouraged

when we make it back.

Because what is the alternative? Women’s confidence diminishes further

and they convince themselves they should leave - then all that talent

walks out the door. We need to be given room to breathe and slowly get 

​back into the rhythm of working life. We need to be given flexibility to

deal with illness, doctor appointments and drop offs etc. When we are

given that space we will rebuild ourselves and give back to the company

tenfold.