Seven and a half years ago, I walked (well, it was probably a waddle) out of the long term care facility I was working at for the last time. I was days away from having our first baby and in a state that we had no family around to help us, I had decided to stay at home with her. I was trading my days as a dietitian to be a stay at home mom. I never put a specific length of time on my departure from working as a dietitian, but I knew in my heart that I would be back one day.
Days became weeks became months that turned into years.
I blinked and it’s been 7 1/2 years.
The days were HARD and some I never thought would end, but we’d made it to the period of life that means full school days for both girls and my heart was becoming restless.
One random Wednesday, I was feeling particularly restless and worried about what the future would look like for our family with both of the girls in school. I was looking on LinkedIn for jobs near by when I stumbled across a hybrid role at a long term care facility close to my house. Without really thinking or planning, I hit apply now, and thanks to the ease of jobs listed as “Apply Now” on the website, I’d submitted an application in less than 5 minutes. It felt good to finally do something about the restless feeling inside of myself and I truly believed that this would lead to nothing. Gosh was I wrong…
Fast forward 4 hours, I got an email from a recruiter who wanted to talk to me about my application. Whoops.
Fast forward 9 days (and one hurricane) later, I had upended our lives as it had been for 7 1/2 years, and I was planning my return to work.
If you get anything from this post, let it be this: I do not regret staying home with the girls one single bit.
Was being a stay at home mom hard? Yes.
Was being a stay at home mom worth it? Also, yes.
Was saying goodbye to life as a stay at home mom also hard? You better believe it.
But my heart knew it was only a phase of life and I had a career that I loved to get back to. So even though the timing wasn’t always the easiest, going back to work has been worth it. My husband was at home with our youngest (while working full time himself) in the couple week gap between me starting work and her starting VPK. He got our oldest off the bus in the afternoons, made their snacks and made us all dinner without complaint.
I couldn’t have done it without his help and full support.
I find myself more present with the girls now, more able to handle the hard moments and happier in each piece of the day.
Quitting my job as a stay at home mom was one of the hardest things I’ve done but also necessary for me – and I’m a better mom for it.
