New Year, New Me?
I'm not feeling very new this year so far. In fact I'm feeling kind of tired. Uninspired. So maybe that's why I find the need to set some goals and (continue to) spend some time thinking about my little family's priorities, wishes, needs and wants.
2017 was a strange year in terms of goals and plans. I started the year working fulltime, moving towards my career goals and feeling accomplished on that front. I also started the year feeling like my family-work balance was off and that I wasn't able to be there for my child and my husband in the way that I would like. In March I had enough of the extremely dis-functional organization I worked for and I quit. It was a bittersweet move because I loved the grants and the community I worked with.
While career plans came crashing down, I found myself being able to divide my full attention at home. I spent months searching for answers to the ever-challenging career-family balance equation. I got to spend an invaluable amount of time with Una at a time where her cognitive skills were exploding and the need for Danish language and culture submersion was crucial. We spent a total of three months of 2017 with our Danish family and friends, which would have never happened if I had been working. I got to take her to swimming lessons and play dates. I got to just be with her and take each day at a time - on our own terms and in our own time.
J got to focus on his business and for him 2017 has been much more career-oriented than 2016 where he was the stay-at-home parent. It's been wonderful to be able to give him time and space for that.
So many good things happened this year, but I'm not sure I'm any closer at finding a good work-family balance. I went from one extreme to the other. And I think my current tiredness and lack of inspiration stems from that unbalance, just like it did last January- although with opposite wishes and wants. I am most definitely in the market for a job, a career-move at this point. But I'm not willing to give up my family time to the same extend I was forced to in my last job.
I don't think my goals are unrealistic, but they do require patience, sacrifice and trust in my community. So those three things shall be part of the New Me 2018.
Some 2017 moments:
2017 was a strange year in terms of goals and plans. I started the year working fulltime, moving towards my career goals and feeling accomplished on that front. I also started the year feeling like my family-work balance was off and that I wasn't able to be there for my child and my husband in the way that I would like. In March I had enough of the extremely dis-functional organization I worked for and I quit. It was a bittersweet move because I loved the grants and the community I worked with.
While career plans came crashing down, I found myself being able to divide my full attention at home. I spent months searching for answers to the ever-challenging career-family balance equation. I got to spend an invaluable amount of time with Una at a time where her cognitive skills were exploding and the need for Danish language and culture submersion was crucial. We spent a total of three months of 2017 with our Danish family and friends, which would have never happened if I had been working. I got to take her to swimming lessons and play dates. I got to just be with her and take each day at a time - on our own terms and in our own time.
J got to focus on his business and for him 2017 has been much more career-oriented than 2016 where he was the stay-at-home parent. It's been wonderful to be able to give him time and space for that.
So many good things happened this year, but I'm not sure I'm any closer at finding a good work-family balance. I went from one extreme to the other. And I think my current tiredness and lack of inspiration stems from that unbalance, just like it did last January- although with opposite wishes and wants. I am most definitely in the market for a job, a career-move at this point. But I'm not willing to give up my family time to the same extend I was forced to in my last job.
I don't think my goals are unrealistic, but they do require patience, sacrifice and trust in my community. So those three things shall be part of the New Me 2018.
Some 2017 moments:
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