A new routine, once again

After 13 months of my stint as ‘stay-at-home-and-work-from-home’, I am now officially out of home to pursue my career.

Are there anxiety pangs, you ask? Yes, there are a lot of those. But it’s not the boi who is feeling them but me. I am up at dawn, something that’s unnatural to me as a human, to get the cooking done. Thank’s to boi’s grandparents (maternal and later paternal) I can step out of the house knowing fully that they will cater to boi more dotingly than me. Yet, there’s no stopping those mommy pangs when I leave li’l tyke having his breakfast.

Hilarious thing is that you can take mommy out of her home but you can’t take the ‘mommy’ out of a mom. Ever.

Even though I have become a working mom just a few days ago, I’m adding my affirmation to an already established truth that there’s no tougher job than being a mom. Desk job and all those mental jigs one does at work to earn the paycheck, does not hold against the physical & mental extremes one pushes themselves while being a mom/stay-at-home-dad. Keeping a child (or multiple) interested and happy is as tricky as making your boss appreciate your presentation or ideas.

I am not here to make controversial comparisons between who has a tougher job.Women throughout history have fought hard to have their careers, and they should be commended and supported for wanting to maintain those careers after they become parents. The balancing act is hard and an emotional one to achieve, but it’s certainly not impossible.

The reality is that stay-at-home parents have as much stress as working parents, if not more, depending on the age, temperament and number of kids. I relish my solo commute to work, that quiet cup of coffee at desk and reading the news on my computer. These were precisely the things I missed when I was home full-time, begging God for few minutes of time-out & a hot shower bath.

I never regretted motherhood because of lack of salary or the recognition I got for a job well done. Motherhood was a choice and I was super lucky that I got to be a mom. But working again is a whole new phenomenon, thoughtfully chosen by me with always an exit in sight but motherhood is unremitting.