One day I said to myself: today I have decided not to have problems again. The word problem has left my vocabulary, from that moment on it became challenge. Sure, we all have them, that’s why I call some “everyday” and others “transcendental of life”. Human beings face them practically every day and some more than others are prepared to deal with them and overcome them. However, and I do not want to underestimate the role of men when they are parents or of women who do not have children, but for life challenges there are those of women working mothers.
When I was childless, my life revolved around my own needs, wants and dreams, My professional career He was the most important and, even having a partner, he occupied, let’s say, an important place, however, my goals were always in the first place, not out of selfishness, but because at that time it was my professional and academic flourishing, since I was finishing my first master’s degree . One day, almost a few months after my thirtieth birthday and after suffering a car accident, I was surprised, they told me I was pregnant.
My life changed completely, I just couldn’t believe it, a baby boy! Yes, of course it was in my plans, but at that time, with a professional career on the rise and halfway through my master’s degree, a son is the greatest responsibility that a human being can have.
I suffered many ailments during pregnancy; for me it was not easy at all. I had many changes in my body and that’s where my first transcendental challenge, of life: the change in my physique that I had taken care of so much with exercise and diet every day, no longer belonged to me, now it was my baby’s home. The change was impressive, I saw other women full with their bellies and mine was really big, people asked me if they were triplets.
At birth Jerome entered my second life challenge, begin to sleep really little, practically three hours a day. Due to a birth problem, the baby’s pylorus (in the throat) had not matured and that caused him reflux, he could not eat properly since practically everything he ate returned it, we had to be aware of him to prevent him from drowned and that implied efforts almost every day until he was a year old. The first day I returned to work, I drove the entire way with a guilty feeling for leaving the life of the most important thing in the hands of my aunt: my son. I didn’t stop crying until I got to the office.
Of course, being a family where we both worked, almost every day from that date, being able to sleep became the least important thing in my life, that’s where my third challenge began: combining professional work life with the life of mother of family. Time went from being a work tool to a critical factor in carrying out all the activities of the day.”
Every day he ran out of the office at six o’clock in the evening. I always told my bosses: “At 6 I become a mom”. He came home and hugging him was the most satisfying emotion, he couldn’t stop looking at him, he played with him and he was aware of everything he learned. Those who have babies know that the job is to be aware of them all the time, because at that age and already walking, they are the most curious and daring beings in the world, so all the time they can suffer all kinds of accidents, choke on something that get into the mouth or fall out.
When my second son, Franco, arrived, the same story was repeated, but with a higher degree of difficulty, because two beings depend on you, in their entirety. now it came my fourth challenge: divide time and resources into two human beings, two babies that require the same level of attention. At that time, the first general manager in Human Resources arrived, I was promoted and I went from having the administration of a company with 300 employees to three companies that, adding up the entire workforce, reached 2,000 employees, which tripled the operation. With shopping centers in several states of the Republic, I began to travel practically every week, I stopped leaving at six o’clock and my children became strangers to me.
He came home every day at 9 at night, when they were about to fall asleep. what she did in my role as mom was to put them to bed and be there with them until they fell asleep. The smallest always asked me to lie down next to him. It’s sad to say but I she was no longer their mother, she was a stranger who spent only a few minutes with them a day.
again had a guilty feelingI had no time for them or for anything. I could not lose my job, as it was the most important source of income for my household. Looking for another job might mean not being able to give them what I considered important at the time: education, extracurricular workshops, and resources for their physical and mental growth. I imagine many working mothers that something similar is happening: stopping work is not an alternative.
With the change to a transnational company, my work trips became national to international, which meant I was away from home for many weeks or months, without having physical contact with them. My husband occupied from that moment on the role of father-mother, and I was only the economic supplier. It is sad to remember it, and it still torments me to this day, but my career also occupied an important place in my life, sometimes on airplanes I thought “how selfish you are” you leave your small children at home and you continue with your professional life.
But what could he do, quit and find a part-time job? My answer came in 2017 when by mutual agreement, and with immense fear, I decided to end my employment relationship and start my businessmy little ones were 11 and 8 years old, respectively, which gave me the advantage of living very close to them for part of their childhood.
That’s how I came into my life fifth momentous challenge: generate clients and own resources. Many of us who collaborate in EXPERTS in competition models are mothers. Since the company started, I decided that we would all have our children and our family life as a priority, so our model is 100% digital, we work from home; telecommuting is nothing new for us.
We can all combine our professional and personal lives, we exercise our mom’s role 100%, we have freedom of action, we never have to miss a school festival again or not have time to take them swimming, we are still working moms, but with a different approach, we are attentive to the well-being of our children and our family.
Challenges yes, of course, we all have them, some everyday and others of life. Having a business is not easy and every day we have to face momentous challenges for the business, but the satisfaction of being close to my children and now being a mother of teenagers allows me to follow my professional dreams and have time for what is most important to me and my children.