{"id":14155,"date":"2019-05-08T00:35:33","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T00:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pure-source-recruitment.ap.applyflow.com\/?p=14155"},"modified":"2022-12-23T10:53:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-23T00:53:46","slug":"returning-to-work-after-maternity-leave-read-this-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/returning-to-work-after-maternity-leave-read-this-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning to work after maternity leave? Read this first"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is loads of commentary about what you need to think about should you decide to return to work after maternity leave.\u00a0 Between LinkedIn and Facebook, everyone has an opinion on the whole return to work discussion, the logistics, employee rights, employer rights, childcare, what to wear.\u00a0 All of these things are important and require meticulous planning, thought and trips to the dry cleaners.\u00a0 But there\u2019s more to think about.\u00a0 Logistics aside, there are factors to consider that are more heart than head.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Some days just leaving the house will exhaust you physically, mentally and emotionally. Whatever your childcare arrangements, parting ways with your child may be fraught with tears. Possibly your baby\u2019s and probably yours. On some days you might cry hot tears for the angst you feel and other days you will feel nothing but sweet relief. Even without guilt, teary goodbyes, though they are blessedly in frequent, still have the power to derail me.<\/li>\n
  2. You might feel guilty.\u00a0 Yes, motherhood guilt is a real and raw emotion that is sometimes underestimated and often misunderstood.\u00a0 Guilt free mothering is what they should be teaching at those antenatal classes.<\/li>\n
  3. But the thing is you might not feel guilty at all.\u00a0 That\u2019s a good thing by the way.\u00a0 I use to feel guilty for not feeling guilty.\u00a0What a\u00a0useless, wasteful, ridiculous way to think.<\/li>\n
  4. You will almost always feel overwhelmed in one way or another.\u00a0 The water will sometimes feel over your head. At work, at home or both. In the midst of juggling you somehow (and I don\u2019t know how) have to make peace with the mess that exists in your mind.<\/li>\n
  5. This next tidbit comes from the Recruiter in me.\u00a0 Don\u2019t suddenly feel like you have to justify yourself in the workplace just because you became a parent.\u00a0 Need to leave work on time (or god forbid, early) to make pick up? So be it.\u00a0 Maternity leave did not suddenly turn you into a less worthy employee. You are just as capable, efficient and clever when you return to work as you were when you left.\u00a0 If you are interviewing for a new role, don\u2019t feel as though you have to explain a \u201cgap\u201d in your resume.\u00a0 You took time off to have a baby and then look after this baby 24\/7.\u00a0 That ain\u2019t no gap.\u00a0 The decision to return to work is your right not your privilege.<\/li>\n
  6. You will argue with your husband\/partner\/wife.\u00a0 About anything really.\u00a0\u00a0Who got up in the middle of the night to find a missing blue matchbox\u00a0car?\u00a0(speaking from personal experience)\u00a0<\/em>Who had the crappiest day? This by the way isn\u2019t a competition you want to win and if you keep score of \u201cwho is doing the most work\u201d then that is a\u00a0recipe for resentment.<\/li>\n
  7. Your child will get sick.\u00a0 A lot.\u00a0 This will probably happen at a time when work needs you the most. This is not your fault, don\u2019t feel bad about it.\u00a0 No one should make you feel bad about it.\u00a0 Now is a good time to buy shares in Panadol.<\/li>\n
  8. At work you will relish the freedom and crave the peace. Hot coffee. Clean clothes.\u00a0No Giggle and Hoot.\u00a0\u00a0You will feel\u00a0complete\u00a0and confident. Your identity isn\u2019t bound by the demands of a\u00a0little\u00a0person. And then suddenly, when you least expect it, you will get a pang of heartache when you wonder at that exact moment what that little person is doing and your heart will be on the floor.<\/li>\n
  9. You might go a whole day at work, and not even think about your child.\u00a0 Selfish? No. Honest?\u00a0Yes.<\/li>\n
  10. You will gain an interesting new perspective on what matters. This isn\u2019t to say you won\u2019t take your job seriously, but\u00a0a\u00a015 minute discussion on who keeps eating the Iced Vovos will leave you bored and amused.<\/li>\n
  11. Mia Freedman recently released her new book\u00a0Work Strife Balance but she very nearly called it Balance is Bullshit.\u00a0 She should have trademarked that statement because balance is bullshit. You will need to look at the pre-packaged notion of what balance is because everything will be out of proportion at some point. Just go with where you need to be at that moment and forget balance.\u00a0 Work and home\u00a0will rarely sing in\u00a0harmony.<\/li>\n
  12. Some nights you will eat frozen meals.<\/li>\n
  13. Some people will tell you that you need to buy a Thermomix.\u00a0 I did.\u00a0 We still eat frozen meals.<\/li>\n
  14. If you are a working mother with a husband or partner you will be in breathtaking awe of single parents.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t to sound patronising but holy shit single parents are bloody amazing.\u00a0 As a society we need to give them way more credit. As employees, they deserve a shitload more support.<\/li>\n
  15. Even with a husband\/partner you will need to build your tribe. For support and for your sanity ask for help. Asking for help doesn\u2019t make you flawed, it makes you human.<\/li>\n
  16. Parents who are human, raise the best humans.<\/li>\n
  17. You cannot do it all.\u00a0 Not ever.\u00a0 That is okay. You are okay.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Some weeks will be better than others. Be kind to yourself.\u00a0 There is no right way to do this, no wrong way to feel. . On those days when you think you can\u2019t do it, remember you already are doing it.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Define your own version of what works and do that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A little advice for those mothers returning from maternity leave, from managing coworkers to your own, complex emotions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14155"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14795,"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14155\/revisions\/14795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/14157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puresource.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}