Bonus

As a little bonus, I wanted to talk about this juggle a little bit. I think my situation is actually quite different from what you’d usually expect. So basically, you already know that I am self-employed and I work from home, which means I am completely in control of my timetable. I decide when I work, when I play or when I can take care of River. Where I am really, really lucky (and I know it!) is that my partner Mike is also self-employed, we co-own a kitesurfing school here in Margate and he’s the head instructor for it. Because we live in the UK, we can only teach kitesurfing from March/April to October. This means Mike has to teach whenever it’s windy then, but the rest of the year, he’s at home and he can take care or River full time if needed.

This is amazing because it means I can focus on working really hard…which I have to do because I’m the one who provides when he can’t work. In the summer, when he’s teaching a bit more, I tend to take on a little bit less work so I can take care of River. We basically have the perfect set up and I don’t think I could work as much as I do if Mike weren’t here!

Funnily enough, I do get mum guilt when I work all the time…because I feel like I should be taking care of her, even though her dad is here and it’s amazing. But then I have to work to provide for the family, so I shouldn’t feel guilty for it! I’m sure that if the roles were reversed, Mike would never feel guilty. At the end of the day, I do really love working from home because it means I’m still super involved with family life…I take breaks to play with River whenever I want and I’m always there for mealtimes, bedtimes and bathtimes.

I’ve only been a mum for ten months now so it’s not been that long, that’s why I’m looking forward to seeing how the ”juggle” between motherhood and freelance life evolves…especially this summer, when Mike has to work more often and my workload probably won’t decrease either! It’ll be fun I’m sure ;)