Work-life balance: Yeah, sure. No problem.

So, work-life balance. What the hell is that? And I don’t care if you work from home, go to an office, travel, or are a stay at home parent – all of that shit is work. And, it’s also your life considering how much time you spend doing it. So, how is this deemed “work-life” balance? It’s probably a concept that some corporate folks made up to try and make you feel better. (I should google the real origins, I suppose, but does it really matter where it came from?)  So in any case, here we are trying to navigate some kind of work-life balance when really that balance is just a see-saw with an elephant sitting on one side (work) and a feather sitting on the other (life). And with elephant in tow, we move forward. And sometimes you feel like you are doing really well in this work-life balance space. Everyone is happy and thriving, bills are getting paid, some splurges are being made and it’s all awesome sauce. And then this happens:

One day you go to pick up your then 5 year old daughter (she’s now almost 7), and there is a lovely bulletin board for Mother’s day hanging up with the theme “My Mom is…” And all of the kids have pictures up that they’ve drawn so nicely with flowers and whatnot and some of them read: “My mom is beautiful, ““My mom is a princess,” or “My mom is the best in the whole wide world.” And you look for yours with anticipation and excitement and yours says – “My mom is a worker.” Yup! A WORKER! And all of your hopeful thoughts about work-life balance go right down the toilet as you look for a corner to curl up in so you can cry like a baby. And the lovely director tries to console you as you stare in disbelief and let out some uncomfortable laughter and she assures you that no, that’s a good thing; she knows you’re a hard worker. Yeah ok. That is definitely not how it felt. It felt like a punch in the gut. But ya know what, you put your big girl panties on and move forward. And you hug that little apple of your eye and tell her that it is the best picture you’ve ever seen and you love it and can’t wait to throw it out, I mean hang it up, when you get home.

And there you go. Work-life balance. But listen, it’s not all bad right? I mean we work hard and our kids do see that. And we do it for them. Whether we choose to stay home or work outside the home or work in the home and send them off to school/day care! Whatever the case is, we are all working. And we are all trying to balance. And we all love our kids. But at the end of the day when they want something – because they ALWAYS want something – and you are exhausted, it’s ok to say – “I’m sorry honey but mommy is tired from working, commuting, running 100 errands, doing laundry, cooking dinner, giving you a bath, cleaning up and over-working her brain for the day. So if you don’t mind, my beautiful offspring, while I am happy to be close to you after this long day away from you, I’m going to sit here and catch up on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills while you play Mine Craft, watch creepy Shopkins videos or play and try to not kill one another.” Mommy loves you. No really, she does.

Peace. Love. And sanity.

And thank you for reading this installment on the musings from my basic life.

Basically Beth Out! (Basic Bitch TBT)