It’s been almost a year since mister baby arrived and I started Half Dot. And every day, I’m still trying to better balance my time between family and work.
I remember a talk that Alice Munro gave, where she said that when her children were young, the best time she had to write was early in the morning when it was still dark outside and everyone else was still asleep, and then short intervals throughout the day when her kids were napping. I’m neither a late sleeper nor early riser, so I knew my prospects for working when my husband and baby were asleep would be slim. For the first few months after my son was born, I did manage to get a lot done throughout the day while the baby rested contently next to me in his bouncer, but that came to an abrupt end when I had to be out of the house for three days straight (Half Dot’s trade show debut) and after that the many meetings with suppliers as I put the first season’s collection into production.
From the advice of other working mothers and designers I’ve met, I realized that with a bit of help (an amazing nanny who comes over several days of the week) I can balance my time better between designing and working on my clothing line while puttering around the house to spend time with my son.
When I recently heard Barbara Kingsolver speak, she said that even when she works from home, it sometimes gets really hard to unravel from work – she’s in her room all day writing, conversing with her fictional characters, and then at the end of the day she has to say goodbye to them and go downstairs to make dinner and be a mom. I was nodding in agreement when I heard that. I have a tendency to get really wrapped up with what I’m working on very late in the day, which botches my plans to cook up a decent dinner and give my son and husband my full attention. I’m trying to plan my workdays better now, saving miscellaneous work tasks (filing, admin, etc) for the end of the day when it’s time to wind down. I’ve also found that taking pictures and writing, recording my days here, is a good way for me to record my progress with work while also reflecting and remembering the other things that matter to me.
I recently came across Habit, and it is one of my new favorite places to visit. A glimpse into the lives of other women, mothers, wives, daughters, at work and at home.