Looking back at the last 10 years of my life, I am struck by how much has changed. I changed careers, relocated, bought a house, moved jobs twice, started my own business, and had a baby.
A disparate set of events maybe, but most happened because I wanted them to. I don’t believe change just occurs. Every achievement, success, and even failure has to be created and actioned. I recall my bewilderment when a relative told me my “bum had truly fallen in the butter” when I secured a Public Relations job with a Financial PR agency in Johannesburg, oblivious to the efforts I had undertaken to secure the role.
Financial PR and Investor Relations were not my chosen fields at university. When I discovered the roles in London at 33, I searched for a position where I could acquire the necessary skills.
With a big salary cut and a slightly dented ego, I was the minnow in my team and undertook every available task to grow my communications advisory skills. In a speech to Harvard graduates, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg dismissed the traditional career ladder metaphor. Instead, she likened today’s less hierarchical world to a jungle gym. Move sideways, move down, move on, move off, she urged, to learn, build skills and grow.
I always dreamed of owning a business. At 39, having navigated the jungle gym, I thought the time was right. I received a lot of support and encouragement from friends and family, but only one person had to take that leap, and that person was me.
But motherhood was also on my list of goals. With my biological clock ticking, and my father’s encouraging words of “life is short, go for it”, l I set “motherhood” ahead of “business owner”. I gave myself four months to fall pregnant, ridiculous upon reflection. After four months, I was not pregnant and decided to rekindle the business ownership ambition. I resigned my job.
Two weeks later, I discovered I was pregnant!
That wasn’t really my plan. I started fretting about money and how I would work while pregnant. What would happen when the baby arrived? Would my clients abandon me?
But life has a way of working itself out. I had to quell these fears and embrace the initial chaos that a new baby brings. Not everything in life can be planned and not all the answers are available. In the business world, contracts sometimes end. These times can and should be used to reflect, consider what’s important and continue to create your life using your head and heart.
What I certainly hadn’t planned was how much joy Adam would bring me.
Yes, being a mother and running my business can be challenging. Balancing my business with school, play and holiday time with Adam means that I need to stay motivated, courageous and disciplined.
I remind myself that life is a choice. If I don’t like my life or it stops working for me, I can change it.
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