On 20 June 2018 we bought our beautiful baby boy into the world. The past 12 months have been an absolute whirlwind. From the sleep deprived newborn days that felt like time stood still, to times more recently where it feels like the days and weeks are passing in the blink of an eye. The saying ‘the days/nights are long but the years are short’ has never felt more real. I return to my career as a HR Consultant next week. Now that my return to work is drawing nearer, people love to ask “are you dreading it?” and say “it’s going to be so hard!” Now while I’m under no disillusions it’s going to be hard, I also CHOOSE to look at the positives.
It would be so easy to dwell on the negatives and let the separation anxiety that bubbles away in the background rear up and take over. It would be easy to feel sad, guilty, self pity and melancholy about returning to work and sharing caring responsibility for my son. It would be easy to fret over the year gone by (Did I enjoy them enough? Spend enough quality time? Was I present enough? Did I give enough of myself? Is he ready? Am I ready?), however that mentality is not going to help either of us with the transition.
I CHOOSE to focus on what we GAIN instead.
Returning to work means I get to contribute to the financial income of our home and help to achieve and accelerate some financial goals for our family. It means I can finance further study in Nutrition and Health Coaching. It means I have an opportunity to re-define who I am as a professional and explore who I am when I’m not in ‘mum mode’ (what do I even do if I’m not pushing a pram, making a snack or wiping snot?). For my son, he will get to gain some independence from me, experience new environments, games and people and hopefully this will support him to be a flexible, well rounded toddler open to new experiences.
We may not always get to choose our circumstances, work is a reality most of us must face and leaving our kids is HARD, but you can always choose how you respond, think and feel about any situation. Happiness is a choice, positivity is a choice and how you show up everyday is YOUR CHOICE.
The same can be said for health and fitness. It’s hard feeling overweight, tired, uncomfortable in your clothes and in social situations. It’s also hard to squeeze training in around work life, a social life and parent life. It’s hard finding the time to prepare healthy meals, say no in social situations and eat smaller portions sometimes. But I CHOOSE my hard and that’s to train and eat well so that I have the mental and physical resilience and capability to show up as my best self in all other aspects of my life.
So this week you can bet I’ll be savouring every moment, celebrating and reflecting on the best year of my life and looking forward to everything yet to come. The choice is always yours.
EmmaK Health 