Back to the example I started with,  I have a question for you.  What are you wearing around in your daily life as a mom?  I’ve been on an adventure this year with many ups and downs as I pursue my dream of being an entrepreneur, while also fulfilling my dream of having the flexibility of being home when my children are home.   For most of this year I’ve worn a perfectionist mindset.  A perfectionist attitude reveals itself in various ways – for me it means I will read, study and research  a topic to an extreme.  I gather, gather, gather and gather some more information on it, because I don’t want to make a mistake.

There is so much I have to learn about what it means to be an mompreneur.  I thought I could read enough books, attend enough seminars, watch enough videos or listen to enough podcasts on the subject to get it all right the first time.  (What’s sooo funny?  Who are you laughing at?)  Well, as I’m sure you know, life doesn’t work like that.    Experience has been one of the best teachers I could have, because she’s taught me that reading about AIN’T quite the same as living it.

Here are a few other things I’ve learned:

“Doing both” (you know that cutesy thing I call my motto) is far more challenging than I imagined.  Who’s bright idea was it that I give birth to a baby and start a business around the same time? Oh yeah, it was mine.  Why didn’t someone warn me? Oh yeah, they did.

Once you have your BIG idea and you start committing the time, money and energy to it,  people expect you to be consistent.  Did I share that consistency is not always where I shine?   I’m working on it.  I soooo want to finish what I start which is why I’ve started back blogging today.

I have to give myself a break.  I put more pressure on myself than anyone else does.  If I’m going to be the Good Life Diva I aspire to be, I’m going to have to learn to enjoy whatever season I’m in with this business while preparing for the next season.

What have I been up to since I last posted?

I really enjoy the potential that the internet offers moms.  I’ve been experimenting with different avenues to see what works best for me.  I’m still applying all the principles I teach others beginning withfinding work that is connected to your passions, gifts and talents (your calling).   I’ll be blogging about my adventures and the things I’m learning from other stay-at-home moms, mompreneurs and bloggers about creating work you love from home that provides an income (aka home business), saving money, raising a family and growing in our relationship with God.

I promise to be honest with you.  I will not paint the appearance of having-it-all-together, because I don’t and neither do you.   For those who do (have it all together), please teach the rest of us.

Let’s get the ball rolling….

Please, leave me a comment about your experience of being a mom who does both – doing work you love while raising a family.    What have you been wearing this year that you’ve realized you need to pack up and put away?

Reading this dialogue from the Oprah website really got me to thinking, “how many wives do I know that feel this way?”.  How many women feel like they’ve lost who they are in marriage, relationships, motherhood, ministry, business, etc?    Do you have to give up who you are to have what you would consider to be “perfect” marriage or successful relationships?

I can relate to wondering, “How did I get here?”.   When my husband I first got married, I was still finishing up my degree.   At that time I pretty much had 4 life dreams: to be a college graduate, a highly respected, wealthy businesswoman, a wife and a mother (in that order).  Well… they didn’t happen in that order.  I was a wife first, a college graduate second, a mother third and I’m still working on the businesswoman part.

Even though I had always dreamed of being a mom the day-to-day mundane-ness (is that word?) of it set in.   I started to resent the fact that my husband was at work all day, while I was home all day with two kids under the age of 2.  I felt like I was losing myself.  I didn’t look my best.  I didn’t feel my best and I was mad at him, because he got a break from laundry, diapers, runny noses, dishes, potty training, grocery shopping, cooking, whining and crying.  This was my life 24 hours a day 7 days a week and I was not happy about the realities of it.    I wondered how come no one shared this side of motherhood with me?    I like how one quote puts it, any idiot can face a crisis, it’s the day to day living that wears you out.    Would it have mattered if they did?

One of the questions  I would want to ask Kristin is if someone had told you the truth as they know about marriage, what would your response have been.  We’ve all said (myself included), “If someone had taken the time to tell me the truth, I may have done things differently.”  I really wonder if we are really honest with ourselves, if this is a true statement at all.

What did I do about my situation?  I started doing the things that make me come alive.  I did the things that helped me define who I was outside of motherhood.  I would go hiking every Saturday morning with my sister.  I founded a book club that still meets almost 7 or 8 years later (there was a hiatus last year).  I would go to the grocery store ALONE at night or in the morning while my family was in bed.  I invested more time in developing my friendships and I made dating my husband a priority.  I started my first business.  I don’t have that business anymore, but it helped me prove to myself that I could be successful in business (which helped me in starting GoodLifeDiva.com).

My marriage and my children didn’t represent the end of ME.   They required me to dig a little deeper – to seek God more for the answer to the question, “Why am I here?”.   My family has enhanced not hindered my discovery process on this Good Life journey.

What do you enjoy?   How could I tell you apart from your best friend, your mother or your sister?  What were you uniquely placed on this Earth to do?   We have to answer these questions for ourselves.  God longs to help us answer who we are.  He says that we were fearfully and wonderfully made.   Wow!

Have you answered the above questions for yourself?  If you’ve lost yourself along the way, what is 1 thing you can do this week to change that?   Please, leave a comment below with your response to these questions.

I saw visions of having the best, well planned summer we’ve ever had.  What I did not figure into this equation was the fact that I gave birth to a baby and a business almost simultaneously.  They both need my attention.  They both can’t survive without me.  Since my biological baby takes priority over my business baby, I’ve planning my work around my daily life.   The question that’s lingered since about 1 week into summer vacation is ” How do I take care of a baby, two elementary age children, a business, my volunteer activities, my home and my husband without dropping everything and running out of my house screaming?”

Guess what?  I’m still learning the answer to this.  Oh, did you think I had some quick fix answer for you? Sorry, Charlie.  Nope, not today.  I’m enjoying having my kids home for summer.  It’s been fun-filled and it has flown by.  We are down to only two weeks before they return to school.  But, I’m doing the best I can to keep up.  Doing both – raising a family and a business (which is definitely in line with my calling) – has been a dance.  At times I feel that I’m gracefully leading and other times I feel I am hopping around with two left feet.

My day start at 4:30 am, Monday thru Friday to attend a fitness boot camp.  I arrive at 5:30 am and leave at 6:30 am.  My 7 month old and my husband are usually awake when I arrive home.  I jump in the shower and then I take the baby, while my husband prepares to leave for work.  I get the older two kids up.  While they are getting ready, I prepare breakfast.  We leave for whatever activity is planned for the day.  We try to be home by the time my youngest is ready for a nap.  When he’s napping, I’m working on and in this business.  This pretty much repeats throughout the day.  I’ve been purposeful about finding fun, enriching activities to do with the kids.  This has been great, but if I’m honest, it’s also been exhausting.

What about you?  I want to hear your summer break stories.    How do you do it?   What’s been your biggest challenge  doing both?  If you have tips for maneuvering through this dance we do (as moms) EVERY summer, please, leave a comment.