Thursday, November 20, 2008

The Truth of the Matter

I have been a stay at home mom since July of 2005 and I love it. It is one of the most rewarding, albeit thankless, jobs that I have ever had. And certainly the hardest. There are no lunch breaks or even bathroom breaks, at least not ones where I get to go to the bathroom alone. I don’t get to leave my work at the office and my "clients" think nothing of waking me up all throughout the night. Oh, and I do it all for free. No paycheck. Being a mother (stay at home or working or somewhere in between) is hard work.

At the end of September I accepted a job writing articles for an online publication. I have fortunately been able to do most of this from home or at least bring the kids with me when covering certain events. This past week I received my first paycheck. It has been a long time since I received a paycheck and I have to admit it was slightly more rewarding than I thought it was going to be.

Having some type of tangible reward for work performed, receiving that type of recognition is nice. Don’t get me wrong. I love being with my children, but it is nice to see that I still have some value and worth that doesn’t simply revolve around only being a mom. It should not have taken a paycheck to reinforce that with me. My value and self-worth are wrapped up in a variety of aspects of my life…my family, my friends, my relationships, my beliefs and values, and apparently my work outside the home.

How about you?

3 comments:

Robyn said...

It took me 19 years of schooling, hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours of studying to become a lawyer. My identity is completely wrapped up in being a lawyer.

Which is why it surprised me so much to see how much of me became "Hubby's wife" and "Bear's mommy." But, luckily, I can be all those things -- it's doing each one well that's the challenge.

Nancy said...

I didn't realize until my first little paycheck in September - how much I enjoyed getting a paycheck!
Congratulations!

Joanne said...

I like how you included values & beliefs in there too. My identity is wrapped in it all too, family, home, writing; but at I think at the very root of all that are the values & beliefs, giving everything else shape.