On motherhood and business.
I am a mum of 3. I have 3 wonderful kids, my eldest son is 21, my daughter 19 and my youngest is 13.
Lots of people have commented that I look too young to have adult children, but I started my family rather early.
In fact, I was still a PhD student when I had my first two.
There is a strong history of infertility and miscarriages in my family, and I thought it might take a while for me to become a mother…
It didn’t. Actually, it was fairly easy. I sometimes feel guilty about this, but it made me appreciate how lucky I was and for this I am grateful.
I can’t pretend I know what it feels to struggle to fall pregnant or to lose a child, in fact the closest I can come to is to feel the loss of the big brother I could have had, but this has heavily influenced the mother I am today.
For example, I might be slightly protective – my youngest says I am annoying (I think all mums are annoying to 13-year-olds, so I am not too worried!), but I pride myself for having raised some healthy independent young adults.
That also means that my kids are my priority and always will be. They are growing up and their needs are changing but I still want to be there for them.
This is of course heavily influencing the way I am building my business today.
I don’t want to have to choose between them and work, to feel the working mother’s guilt I experienced for years when I was working full-time in the corporate world.
I want to feel free to choose what is right for me, and for them, and to work with people who not only understand, but support that. I want my work to seamlessly integrate with my life.
A large proportion of my coaching & mentoring clients aspire to the same. If you’d like to know more on the work I am doing around this, book a free consultation.