When the juggle gets extra.

If you follow me on social media you’ll have seen this week my daughters were unwell. Which meant the juggle of family/work/life took an extra turn.

There are so many layers to life without the added worry and stress of a sick child. So we’re gonna talk it through in all it’s glory!

Firstly, I work for myself, so not working isn’t an option. I have clients to speak with and contracts to fulfill. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. But working for myself does mean that I can move things around a little and work later in the nights - which is a bonus.

My husband manages his own workload to a degree, which means he is able to work from home too.

But we all know that working from home isn’t easy.

So - we have the stress of work, and the stress of unwell children.

My youngest is an emotional person when unwell, life gets heavy for her and that’s in turn heartbreaking for us as parents. Seeing the people you love the most in pain and upset is something to process, and we need to take time to process it.

But also, how we were treated when we were children and we were unwell has a lot to do with how we react now as adults. And we have to be aware of this as we parent our kids.

Then, I was thrown another ball - a really nasty period. I’m talking scenes from Jaws and the cramps from hell. Almost unbearable pain what paracetamol didn’t seem to touch - at one point it felt like the house was being kept alive on bloody paracetamol!

So, for four days the juggle was extra - and wanna know what? I survived. Here’s a little vulnerable secret about me - I’m really rubbish at asking for help. I’ll ask when I feel comfortable asking. It’s something I work on, and it’s not because I think that asking for help is a bad thing.

I feel the weight of my daily responsibilities, the kids, dog, house work, my volunteer commitments, my relationships to my friends and family - all of these things I do because I love them but also with total commitment. Because they are my responsibility. I’m privileged enough to be able to take care of them and so I do as best as I can. I’ll lean on someone when I can be truly vulnerable, and that takes time for me.

So, I did it, and I’m sure I can do it again. How did I manage through the extra stress - I took it an hour at a time (time blocking is such a good tool), I didn’t send the Wednesday Winner newsletter which felt like the right thing to compromise, I sent my friend a lot of voice notes and I distracted myself with some pretty naff TV!

Until next week lovely humans, L xx