Hello my sweet friends! How lovely it is to be back here chatting with you all.
I can't tell you how my decision to resign (which I did on Tuesday - eeek!) has just set me right back on track to 'being me' again.
Does that sound like a strange thing to say? Let me explain...
(ps todays photos are from a delightful afternoon spent by the sea in Wales a few weeks back)
Lesson 1 - Life Will Change
When you go from being at home to working outside of the home something has to give. You simply do not have the time or energy to do what you used to do.
Things like meal planning, crafting, blogging, and baking all fell away. When you are working 5 days a week full time you just don't have the time and when you get home you are exhausted. Weekends are spent catching up on the housework, laundry and shopping.
I suppose if that is what you have always done then its a lifestyle you are quite used to and if you were suddenly told to stay at home you might not know what to do with yourself.
But having been a full time mom and homeschooler, I have always been very used to managing my own time and never short of things to do. My home ran well, the budget was controlled because I had the time to meal plan and control the spend on groceries etc. Most importantly I had time for the people in my life. Time to remember their birthdays and send a special card and homespun gift, time to drop them a call to see if they were okay or meet up for a cup of coffee.
Working outside of the home tends to have you feeling like you are on a freight train with little chance of slowing down, at least, that's how it feels to me.
My everyday life changed and I have to say that for me, I feel like I lost more than I gained.
Lesson 2 - Don't Leave God Out!
After our homeschooling years came to an end, I was really trying to figure out what it was I was supposed to do. I wonder if other homeschooling moms feel this way - I'm sure they must do.
I have to say (to my shame) that this process was very much me making my own decisions rather than actually praying about what I should be doing. I feel that this lesson has been the biggest and hardest lesson I have learned because when you start to leave God out of lifechanging decisions it's bound to have a negative effect.
For me I have felt distanced from God for good reason, because I left Him out! Only once I started including Him again (again, shamefully some 4 years later!) have things started to become clearer and opportunities have started to present themselves that have lead me to this very point which leads me onto my next lesson...
Lesson 3 - Perhaps You Are Already Doing What You Are Purposed To Do
When, in all my wisdom, I decided that I should go back to work and carve out this legal career, I failed to consider that perhaps I was already doing what I was meant to be doing!
I have not let any of these things go over the past 4 years and in fact, opportunitites have opened over the past year in all these things which I have delighted in taking.
Looking back I think that I didn't see the value in these things, I thought that they were not as worthy as carving out a career. I was wrong.
All work that God has purposed for you is worthy and good. Whether you are at home raising children & homeschooling, running a small business from home, volunteering somewhere or making yourself available to encourage others, it s important work and should be seen as such.
I think that this lesson is especially important for us empty nesters to grasp because there is no doubt in my mind that raising and homeschooling my children was my greatest calling and one which I was blessed to do. When that comes to an end it can be difficult to decipher a way forward. I completley missed that God had already planted the beginnings of new things for a new season in my life in the autum of our parenting and homeschooling season.
So, is working outside the home a bad thing? No, of course not. Each persons situation is unique and each person has a purpose to fulfill. The point of this post is to take a considered view, to recognise what you already have and to seek God in directing your paths.
This is a converstation I wish I had had the opportunity of having with a Godly woman who had travelled this empty nest road before me.
Well lovelies, I hope that you all have a lovely weekend and for those of you who are in the UK may you have a blessed Mothering Sunday!
Blessings in Christ