300 percent
this is my “to-do box.”
this is what the bird thinks of my “to-do box,” and all of the various lists, reminders, work obligations and home-related chores that reside on note cards therein:
what a perfect metaphor for what it’s like to try to be a “work-at-home-mom!”
i catch myself envying moms who work full-time outside of the home and those who leave their jobs completely to become stay-at-home-moms. surely life in these neatly defined categories is, well…neater.
but then i remember these wise words from lisa belkin’s life’s work: confessions of an unbalanced mom:
“i have yet to hear from anyone who feels they are doing everything right. so it’s not just me who can’t do this — and it’s not just you, either. not a one of us seems to be able to give 100 percent of themselves to their job and 100 percent of themselves to their family and 100 percent of themselves to taking care of themselves. small wonder. yet we all seem to think someone (else) out there is getting it right; people who work full-time think people who work part-time are doing it, and people who work part-time think people who don’t work at all are doing it, and those who left the office to tend to home think that if only they could escape back to an office, they might find sanity. but all of this misses the point. no one can do it, because it cannot be done…. this emotional and economic tug-of-war is the central story of our generation” (14 , 16).
belkin is no longer in search of balance. now she’s just after “a close approximation of sanity.”
i think she might be on to something.
[bibliography is located on the sidebar to the right.]
Tags: balance, full-time, life's work, lisa belkin, part-time, sanity, stay-at-home, to-do list, work at home
August 23rd, 2010 at 8:32 am
Thank you! I so needed this on the first day of what looks to be a long work week!
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:21 am
your blogs always make me feel a bit more sane. Thank you! i too like the idea of “a close approximation of sanity.” good thing to think about today. now off to deal with some disciplining, put the other one down for a nap, and then hitting the books to study… or maybe I’ll knit just a little bit first
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:26 pm
A big fat Amen to this.
Your post brought to mind this Renita Weems quote, which I have clutched to myself many times over the years:
“I will never be the writer I would have been had I not become a mother. Nor will I be the minister or professor I could have been if I hadn’t had to suffer the interruptions of a sulking child or the vibes of a brooding husband transmitted under the door of my study. I give up writing the book I might have written or the sermon I might have preached every time I wander out of my study and follow the smell of popcorn wafting in the air, follow it to the family room, where the rest of the family is watching The Lion King for the forty-second time. I’ll never be able to recapture the fine sentences swirling in my head, or the fresh revelations that were about to lay hold of me. But for the joy of getting down on the cold hardwood floor and singing, Hakuna Matata, I’ll settle for bits and pieces of revelation God sends my way, and see what, if anything, I can make of them when I can. Because today is today, and that’s all I have.”
August 23rd, 2010 at 7:18 pm
At the end of the day, I believe, especially where family is concerned, we all do the best we can. And, that’s it.
August 23rd, 2010 at 7:20 pm
I love the to do box.