Work/life balance is so hard to achieve for working moms (even for us working moms whose job is stay-at-home-mom). We spend all day focused on our job or career, then all evening (and sometimes into the night) focused on caring for kids. It leaves little time for our own passions and activities.
Maybe it’s something we need to accept as a phase of life for all moms. You will only have time for work and your children and nothing else. Or maybe not. For the past 3 1/2 years of my life I have focused mainly on my career and children. I let go of former passions that I felt I didn’t have time or energy for anymore.
Recently, I’ve rediscoverd two of my former passions, yoga and football, and they have brought a lot of joy back into my life that I didn’t realize I was missing.
I originally found yoga when I moved to Australia for work. I never thought I could do yoga because I thought you had to be flexible. I am not flexible. I also couldn’t lie still in savasana for more than 10 seconds. Too many thoughts raced through my mind, I thought about what all I needed to do, how I didn’t have time to just lie down with my eyes closed, so I just couldn’t find peace. Eventually, my flexibility increased and I started to look forward to the peaceful rest of savasana at the end of each practice.
Since becoming a mom I rarely have much alone time for workouts or the gym, so when I do workout it is usually an at home circuit workout, or bringing the kids with me to Baby Bootcamp. I have been thinking about how much I miss yoga, so I recently started to follow along with YouTube yoga videos at home.
I know the YouTube yoga practices don’t compare to in-person studio classes, but I am so happy to be on the mat again. It has really brought a lot of joy and peace back into my life. I have been making a conscious effort to do yoga every night after my kids go to bed. It has helped give me peaceful time to myself and allows me to begin to relax in the evening. I can honestly say it has made a huge improvement in my mood and wellbeing.
For as long as I can remember, I have been a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan. My mom grew up an Eagles fan and passed the passion for the team down to me, my dad and my siblings. My family loved watching Eagles games together on Sundays and cheering for our team.
Once I moved away to Australia it was hard to follow American football, so I slowly began to lose my passion for the game. When we moved back to the US, I was pregnant and had my first baby before the football season started. I soon became too wrapped up in the baby and too exhausted to spend much time following the NFL.
The Philadelphia Eagles are having their best season ever and they’ve made it to the Super Bowl! From the beginning of the season I could tell something special was happening with the team, and for the first time in almost 8 years I have been excited to follow football again. Over the course of the season, I grew more and more passionate about the team as they continued to win game after game.
When the Eagles won the NFC Championship game last weekend I was close to tears. I was shocked I could still be so passionate about an NFL team, and so happy at the same time because I realized how much I missed football and the bond I shared with my family over cheering for our favorite team. Even though I couldn’t watch the game with my family we were texting each other throughout the game and it felt like they were there with me cheering for our team.
Now we get to watch the Eagles play in the Super Bowl this weekend. I am so excited (as you can tell because I’ve even dedicated a blog post to it)! Win or lose I’ll still be forever grateful to this team for reigniting my passion for football. But deep down I know they won’t lose. This team is special and soon they’ll be the NFL Super Bowl LII Champions! And I will be cheering at the TV as loud as I can – Fly Eagles Fly!
Do you feel like you’ve lost any passions since becoming a mom, or getting wrapped up in your career? Are there any small changes you can make to your routine to bring back your passions and improve your mental well-being?
