I am never sick. So how did I lose three days last week? I swear this kind of thing started when I was pregnant, and has only gotten worse with two children.
Before becoming a mom, if I was sick, I would call in to the boss, change my voice mail greeting and crawl back under the covers.
During pregnancy, the days when I felt wrung out were alleviated by my sweetheart offering extra foot rubs.
Now, I recognize some days as sick days only in retrospect. I was upright, driving and taking care of daily tasks, but I was not really a functioning human. I was not taking care of things like returning phone calls, balancing checkbooks and keeping up with e-mails. I re-emerged from the lost days to piles of laundry, piles of mail and piles of whatever landed by the back door.
As the song goes, Mama said there’d be days like this. A few days like this don’t make you (or me) a bad person, chronically disorganized or hopeless. They are just what happens when you are a mom, and they happen in spades if you are a mom running a business. This isn’t Pollyanna; it’s just a reality check.
As the song goes, Mama said there'd be days like this….
They are just what happens when you are a mom.
The mom handbook doesn’t allow for sick days, but you can slow things to a crawl for a few days and still run your business and your life successfully when you return to speed. Take care of you, even when you really are running ragged. Whether you are running a company or “just” your household, no one else is going to do it for you. My post-sick day remedy includes chocolate. Here’s wishing you some.
Darla DeMorrow is a Wayne, PA mom, professional organizer and author. Check out her blogs, Heartwork Organizing and The Pregnant Entrepreneur.
