I’ve been on maternity leave for 2 1/2 weeks now. My first real break from work in a really long time. I’ve done a pretty good job of not responding to work emails. I check my work email maybe every other day to clean out junk email. I think once the baby comes, I will find myself having no time to even think about checking it. However, what I am realizing about myself is how important my friendships and feeling connected to people is to me. My job in the field of student affairs naturally has me connect with people all day. For years, my days were filled with daily student interaction, meetings, and checking in with other staff at lunch time. I also do work that has me connect groups of people to each other. Now, my daily interaction is with people in my yoga class, at a local restaurant, grocery store, etc. I have this desire to start a mini mom’s group/club from the women and men in our weekly labor classes. Something, I would totally encourage if I was leading the class.
I am scheduled to return to work June 1. I will keep you posted on how I make the transition into motherhood and how I start to see my career in my life. Right now, I see becoming a mom as an extension of myself, kind of the same way I see my work in student affairs. It will be fun to see how many mom groups I connect with. I hope at least one. I’m also interested in how I will view myself and work down the road.
I love this! Victoria, you were the one in our co-hort to really keep us connected and it is great to see your desire to connect to others and connect others to each other in the light of motherhood. You are a beautiful spirit, my friend!