My Alter-Ego: Professional Mom on the Run
I’m set to leave my kiddoes this weekend to attend the Power Up Conference in DC. The Husband will be in charge for nearly 48 hours when I will race home so he can take off and leave for a work trip Sunday night. Our kids will handle it in stride because they’re used to it. I don’t love that fact, but I am proud of it.
There are days where I feel like I do the lion’s share of the work around here. But, when it comes to work travel, The Husband steps in and becomes 100% caregiver so I can concentrate on being a professional. In the beginning, there were lists and plan sheets and charts. Now, there are some details I leave for him, but I mostly just get up and go, knowing they’ll all be fine however the days work out.
I broke us all in early. When I was in Direct Sales I traveled every July for four days to our annual conference and I was too many hours (and time zones) away to be of much help. So he figured it out. The kids figured it out and I figured out how to let go.
I think it’s as much the woman’s problem to figure out the letting go as it is the man’s (or at home spouse’s)to figure out how to stay. Because we are used to calling the shots, and we are used to controlling the home fronts. So, to leave no only relinquishes that control, it also acknowledges that we’re pursuing a different life-a professional one and there are a whole host of fears and guilt that go along with that.
I’m not saying it’s easy. I’m not saying I’m perfect at it every time. But I will say that only in doing it was I able to make sure I did it again. I went away that first time, then the second, then the third and now-about the 50th-things are much, much better for everyone.
So tomorrow I will leave and trust that The Husband will get everything done and the kids will survive and on some level, I’ll have to trust that I will too. I’ll see through my loss that comes with letting go and push past the fear that comes when I’m taking control of my own life and we’ll all roll merrily along.
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