Being able to work from home allows us the rare opportunity to work around our childrens' schedules and work at our own convenience. I know it sounds great, but please let me share...
A good day for me starts about 5AM. I am a writer, which poses many challenges within itself, so I try toget through as many scripts as I can before I get the kids up. Career woman at work - don't forget the coffee. 6AM – time to start the wake up process for the kids, make their lunches and get them to school. 8AM - home. Since I'm feeling exhausted from the wake-up battle, confusion sets in as I try to figure out what to do first. Dishes in the sink, laundry, more scripts? It's a toss, but more coffee for sure. After all the fussing within my own mind, it's 1:45PM - time to pick up the kids, and all their friends. Not by my liking mind you. My daughter, especially, likes to put me on the spot. Sometimes I hold strong with a firm “no,” sometimes I don't have the energy. 3PM - we get home. That's when the “I'm hungry” starts, along with any arguing the siblings have amongst themselves. Refereeing and cooking prevail and before you know it, it's 7PM. My bedtime. Did I get anything done? I feel like a failure. Enter cave woman.
Most days I find myself wearing the same clothes I had on the day before, and then I have to wonder, did I even brush my hair? Or my teeth? Since I don't have much recollection, I can't remember all that I ate either, which adds to the adage of larger than life hips and thighs. During the refereeing and cooking for the kids, I eat anything and everything in sight just to calm my nerves, but I can't remember precisely what. I do know, however, it's not the chicken breast and vegetables. Now my abdomen has begun to beach. I'm in trouble. Arrggghhh! How did I get here and is there a light?
I used to work as a copywriter, voice-over and audio engineer. Promising, yes. But after becoming a single parent, I found it near impossible to maintain my full-time work schedule. I give my hats off to anyone doing it. Nine to five was difficult with the kids and my bosses weren't thrilled. One day the school called me at work telling me my son was running a fever. When I told them I had to go, they said, “either get this situation under control or we're going to have to let you go.” I replied, “If you have to let me go because I need to take care of my son, then let me go.” They didn't at that moment, but they did two months later. Can I blame them? No. They needed someone to work 9 to 5. However, it was a blessing in disguise.
I had built up some contacts during my 15 years working in the studios, and through the grace of God, I started getting some freelance work and contract work that has been helping me get by for last ten years. Has it been a struggle? Tremendous. Parenting is hard, single parenting just compounds the difficulty. Utilities have been shut off, the house has been in foreclosure and we've been on food stamps. Kids need your constant attention, but you need to support them. Career woman had to turn things up a notch. When the kids turned teen, I went back to school and got my B.A. I spent some time networking, building a few websites to market my services, incorporating a business, Harmoni Productions, and interacting online.
Now this can be tricky as cyberspace can be quite addicting. It's fun getting lost in blogosphere and a great escape from reality - especially when the stress is on. Then you stumble upon Facebook. Not only do you find long lost friends, there are games! Yes, games! More escape. Now instead of yelling at my kids for spending all their time talking to friends on X-Box Live or MySpace, they're hollering at me for dinner. Aye aye aye, can it get anymore complicated?
Of course. Now that I have divulged myself into this habit of gaming and blogging, what happened to work? Career woman has morphed again into cave woman. All the hours I should be spending trying to market myself and getting work done, I'm spending blowing up like a whale, not brushing my hair and telling my kids to shut up so I can finish harvesting my crops in Farmville. But, there is a light. Thank goodness.
For me, it's God. He is my continuous light, and it is during my deepest pits of cavedwelling, darkness and despair that He spreads His wings and helps me soar. Through His guidance, I have successfully pitched and sold several theater programs for children and young teens. My websites and posts finally got some recognition. A promotion company approached me to cover local events in South Florida, i.e, the Miami Book Fair, South Beach Food and Wine Festival and more, which got published in a local magazine, and - this is the big one - I got hired as a freelance writer for a ladies journal talk show on Lifetime. Praise the Lord – the doors are opening, the seeds are growing!
Cave woman or career woman? Just writing about it is a step in the right direction. So, if you're feeling down in the pits, don't. All that dwelling can breed success. Look, it's before noon and I've already brushed my hair! Bless you, Mommies!
A good day for me starts about 5AM. I am a writer, which poses many challenges within itself, so I try toget through as many scripts as I can before I get the kids up. Career woman at work - don't forget the coffee. 6AM – time to start the wake up process for the kids, make their lunches and get them to school. 8AM - home. Since I'm feeling exhausted from the wake-up battle, confusion sets in as I try to figure out what to do first. Dishes in the sink, laundry, more scripts? It's a toss, but more coffee for sure. After all the fussing within my own mind, it's 1:45PM - time to pick up the kids, and all their friends. Not by my liking mind you. My daughter, especially, likes to put me on the spot. Sometimes I hold strong with a firm “no,” sometimes I don't have the energy. 3PM - we get home. That's when the “I'm hungry” starts, along with any arguing the siblings have amongst themselves. Refereeing and cooking prevail and before you know it, it's 7PM. My bedtime. Did I get anything done? I feel like a failure. Enter cave woman.
Most days I find myself wearing the same clothes I had on the day before, and then I have to wonder, did I even brush my hair? Or my teeth? Since I don't have much recollection, I can't remember all that I ate either, which adds to the adage of larger than life hips and thighs. During the refereeing and cooking for the kids, I eat anything and everything in sight just to calm my nerves, but I can't remember precisely what. I do know, however, it's not the chicken breast and vegetables. Now my abdomen has begun to beach. I'm in trouble. Arrggghhh! How did I get here and is there a light? I used to work as a copywriter, voice-over and audio engineer. Promising, yes. But after becoming a single parent, I found it near impossible to maintain my full-time work schedule. I give my hats off to anyone doing it. Nine to five was difficult with the kids and my bosses weren't thrilled. One day the school called me at work telling me my son was running a fever. When I told them I had to go, they said, “either get this situation under control or we're going to have to let you go.” I replied, “If you have to let me go because I need to take care of my son, then let me go.” They didn't at that moment, but they did two months later. Can I blame them? No. They needed someone to work 9 to 5. However, it was a blessing in disguise.
I had built up some contacts during my 15 years working in the studios, and through the grace of God, I started getting some freelance work and contract work that has been helping me get by for last ten years. Has it been a struggle? Tremendous. Parenting is hard, single parenting just compounds the difficulty. Utilities have been shut off, the house has been in foreclosure and we've been on food stamps. Kids need your constant attention, but you need to support them. Career woman had to turn things up a notch. When the kids turned teen, I went back to school and got my B.A. I spent some time networking, building a few websites to market my services, incorporating a business, Harmoni Productions, and interacting online.
Now this can be tricky as cyberspace can be quite addicting. It's fun getting lost in blogosphere and a great escape from reality - especially when the stress is on. Then you stumble upon Facebook. Not only do you find long lost friends, there are games! Yes, games! More escape. Now instead of yelling at my kids for spending all their time talking to friends on X-Box Live or MySpace, they're hollering at me for dinner. Aye aye aye, can it get anymore complicated?
Of course. Now that I have divulged myself into this habit of gaming and blogging, what happened to work? Career woman has morphed again into cave woman. All the hours I should be spending trying to market myself and getting work done, I'm spending blowing up like a whale, not brushing my hair and telling my kids to shut up so I can finish harvesting my crops in Farmville. But, there is a light. Thank goodness.
For me, it's God. He is my continuous light, and it is during my deepest pits of cavedwelling, darkness and despair that He spreads His wings and helps me soar. Through His guidance, I have successfully pitched and sold several theater programs for children and young teens. My websites and posts finally got some recognition. A promotion company approached me to cover local events in South Florida, i.e, the Miami Book Fair, South Beach Food and Wine Festival and more, which got published in a local magazine, and - this is the big one - I got hired as a freelance writer for a ladies journal talk show on Lifetime. Praise the Lord – the doors are opening, the seeds are growing!
Cave woman or career woman? Just writing about it is a step in the right direction. So, if you're feeling down in the pits, don't. All that dwelling can breed success. Look, it's before noon and I've already brushed my hair! Bless you, Mommies!
