Balance…HA!

A few posts back I wrote about hearing one mompreneur talk about being in flow with your life rather than trying to balance. I connected to that phrase but couldn’t connect it to my life.  What’s my flow? I kept thinking it surely could not the daily marathon that is my life…how can THAT be good? But then a couple of weeks ago two things happened that drove home once and for all that there will NEVER be “balance” in my life, but I do have a flow and maybe if I stop fighting it….

My daughter had an unplanned Dr’s appointment AND I had to take the dog to the vet AND I had to do these two things before my 11 am conference call. I ran the dog to the vet at 8:30 am then ran him home and then took my daughter to her Dr’s appointment.  She had to pee in a cup and well lets just stay she had stage fright at the Dr’s and after repeated tries we decided she would try at home. It’s now 10 am.

We get home and it’s now 10:30. She needs to pee in the cup (the Dr suspected a urinary tract infection and couldn’t proceed until my daughter peed in the cup and confirm it).  I’ve been feeding her water since 8am…so I know she’s got to go!  I’m desperate.

As I’m trying to calm her and help her feel better about peeing in a cup; I’m silently counting how much time I have left until my conference call. I finally pull out the last trick in my bag that morning and told her that if she peed in the cup within the next 5 minutes, I’d buy her lunch at her favorite place to take back to school. The catch was she had to pee in the cup NOW so we have time to stop and get lunch on our way back to school. She thought about it for a hot second and agreed. (OK I’m never proud when I bribe my daughter but sometimes a mom has got to do what a mom has got to do).

We go in the bathroom, she sits down and I hold the cup under her bottom and no go. I try a different tack and start talking to her about her day and then success! She not only pees in the cup, but on the sides and all over my hand! I’m still silently counting down how much time I have left until my conference call.  So much for the glamorous life   We do our victory dance (after I wash my hands), run to the car, get her well earned lunch and I drop her off at school. Race home and I got on the call 1 MINUTE before it starts….

Later that day as I’m laughing over the kind of morning I had and wondering what the !!#@ I was thinking making the dog’s and my daughter’s Dr’s appt before my conference call…I read something about having to give somethings up in order to do other things that have meaning for you. Well I’m not going to give up being an entrepreneur and I’m not going to give up being a mom…so I decided to give up the notion of having a balanced life and just flow with the one I’ve got. It works, it has all the elements that I want and why stress myself out trying to twist what I have into someone else’s notion of what a balanced life is. It’s been a few weeks since this happened and I feel much better. I don’t worry anymore that I’m giving myself an ulcer over trying to rein in my life. I have 2 girls, a business, a puppy, 2 birds and a husband. There’s no way that my life is going to be sane for the next 12 years. Why fight it?

My Ah-Ha moment

I signed up for the Savvy Mompreneurs Telesummit this past week. What pushed me to sign up were two comments that was made in the preview call.

One comment had to do with the fact that we Mompreneurs have different needs and different motivations AND we need to be OK with that. If our motivation is to make money to send our kids to the best school and NOT buy the fancy car or clothes..that’s OK. Wow!

The other comment was that instead of looking for balance between your business and your family…how about achieving a RHYTHM that works for you? Wow again! Balance to me was akin to climbing Mt Everest, a near impossible task. I usually feel that I am either not spending enough time with the kids or I’m not spending enough time on my business. Never finding that “sweet spot”.  But finding my rhythm sounds to me more achievable…it’s flexible.  I like flexible.

It’s easy to forget that you have the power to give yourself permission to live life on your terms.