Is this for you?!

This is for you, if you have the following: a sense of humor, understanding of sarcasm, if you aren't easily offended by what is reality in my world and if you like to follow someone else's life so you don't have to think about the pile of laundry, sink full of dirty dishes, overflowing trashcans, unkempt lawn, dusty surfaces and unswept floors at your own house! Oh, and if you can handle this girl referring to herself in the 3rd person...(see, not for everyone!) This is not for you if: you can't handle all of the above (and more). For those of you who can, welcome to my world friends! Enjoy!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Lean In? I think I'll just stand tall...


In the end, this is where my heart is...At home, with my family.


This blog is meant to be light-hearted and fun, and though I have not blogged in what, maybe 2 years, I decided to resurrect it.  However, for today only, I am diverging from it's main purpose (poking fun at a city slicker-who now lives on a farm...) I have something on my mind and someone needs to say it for everyone. So after today, I'm back at it and off of my soapbox.  Here goes:

I was gifted, Sheryl Sanberg's book, "Lean In" for Christmas. I read it and I am glad I did. I agree with some of what she says, most is simply not for me. But it did help me learn a lesson about myself. 

I think instead of 'Leaning In', I will choose to 'Stand Tall'.  We all make decisions in life-and at 31, I'm starting to feel like I am finally comfortable and confident in my own skin.  Yeah, I could have married someone that hadn't already been married.  Sure would have make life a 'heck of a lot easier', right?  I could have kept that high profile career and been making tons of money, but how about taking a day off with a sick kid, like I did yesterday? I could worry that women still only make what, $.71 on a man's dollar and protest this, I could have fought harder for more of a raise this year.  Heck, I could do a lot of things differently, I suppose. While many things that my mom says resonate with me, especially the older I get, two standout especially:  'we all have our own cross(es) to bare' and 'you need to pick your battles'.  And you know what, I've found, my Mama is a wise woman.

I would like to encourage my friends and family, especially the women, to not look down on someone because they may or may not have chosen to "Lean In". 

For me personally, I'm going to 'Stand Tall' I specifically chose to take a position at a public institution because unlike my former high-profile sales/marketing job (which I loved at the time but was days on end of traveling-however, I do credit for my visiting many places in the beautiful country I may never have seen otherwise and many good times), I could count on the 8am-5pm and very few 'after-hours' events. After hours, is reserved solely for my family or personal enjoyment.  I also went in to the position with the attitude that if I changed careers, I still needed to make myself virtually irreplaceable.  And I did.  Now, I truly believe for me, I have the best of both worlds, I am on a 70% appointment at the office and I spend the rest of my time with my family.

For our household, I am not the breadwinner-just a little gravy on the top. I have been blessed to be able to make the decisions that I have because I have this fantastic opportunity.  However, don't be fooled, it doesn't come without sacrifice of other things. But it is what is right for us, right now.

At this point in my life, I'm not interested in "Leaning In".  But let's not confuse this with I have no idea what is going on in the world-or that I only know what facts my kids' cartoons impart upon them.  I pride myself on keeping up with current events, news, books, magazines and otherwise, my home stocked with groceries and home-cooked meals are on our table almost every night.  I believe that both stay-at-home moms and working moms have good heads on their shoulders and we're all just trying to do the best that we can, are we not? For me, I know I should be better at keeping up with friends, but the good ones, they love me whether we talk twice a year or twice a day.

I'm going to 'Stand Tall', because you know what, there is something rewarding to my heart in nurturing a sick little guy back to health, making those home-cooked meals for my family, crafting for them and being there for them as much as I can.  I'm going to 'Stand Tall' because I truly enjoy the work that I do at the office. I enjoy assisting families through the process of finding a university that is right for them and getting them on campus as an admitted student.  And I'll be honest it, I also like dropping my children off at 'school' (daycare) and letting them interact with others their age and learn and play-it doesn't mean I'm not thinking about them. It's what's right for me.

I guess for me, I'll be leaning in to my family because, after all, making the little people is the easy part, right?  Teaching them to be productive members of society takes a village and includes those working in and out of the home, and somewhere in between, too.

So maybe the message here is, do what is right for you and try to be respectful to others. I know in my heart, I'm right where I need to be.  And I sincerely hope that you are too.


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