



Working on TV locations - my old work life

When I was fifteen years old I got my first job slinging ice cream. When I was at University I had two jobs and a full time school schedule. When I was 5 ½ months pregnant I traveled back to the US to work in the field as a TV Production Manager. I have always been a worker bee, and I have always been at the top of my game regarding my career and the choices I made around it. In fact, most of my life choices have always centered around my career. That is, until now.





As many of you already know, babies change everything, and I mean everything. Little babies interfere with your sleep, your hygiene, your routine house and life maintenance and oh-- did I mention, your career?! I don’t know why I thought that I’d be back to work immediately. I severely underestimated the toll birth takes on your body and the time you need to heal; the primal attachment and subsequent attachment issues surrounding leaving your baby with someone for the first time just so you can run an errand; and the big one: the exorbitant cost of childcare. The sad truth of it is, unless you have a six-figure income, you’d be lucky to break even from the big squeeze of placing your baby in nursery for the duration of a full working week. And if you have a non-traditional job like myself (a 12-hour work day is standard in the TV industry) then you can either kiss your baby or your salary goodbye.





Having been caught in the middle of two psychological and emotional extremes-- the innate desire to stay home with Marin full-time and the very real, and practical need for mental stimulation and an income-- I decided to put my feelers out for work. The California hippie in me trusted to leave it up to the Universe and know that an opportunity would present itself that was tailor-made for me. How very optimistic of me, I know. But hey-- you don’t get anything unless you ask for it, am I right? And wouldn’t you know it, a very rare and highly sought-after work from home position became available to me about a week after I set that intention. Boom. I was back in the game.









What work looks like now - an improvised home office

In the weeks leading up to my start date I bought a brand new desktop computer (with a nice big screen for spreadsheets and the like), booked an appointment with an optometrist to get an updated reading prescription sorted, started Marin on a rigid nap schedule (2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon) and generally pumped myself full of “you can do this” style affirmations in the face of all the moms who looked at me like I had spinach stuck between my two front teeth when I shared the good news. And three days into my first working week, I think I know why they were looking at me like that.





Juggling the full-time responsibilities of motherhood and a job is tough on a normal day, but add a home office and an infant to the mix and you’re looking at a whole new can of worms. In just three short days Marin has completely abandoned her nap schedule, screamed through a conference call, outgrown every single one of her toys and activity centers unless I’m sprawled out on the floor with her and has already watched about four hours of TV (part of my job entails watching cuts of a show and checking it for errors) In fact, the only way she seems to be comfortable today is slumped over her toy drum whilst being propped up by pillows inside her moses basket which is tabletop next to my computer. I get it, eye contact is important to me too.









The only other occupant of my new office

But I suppose it’s not all as bad as I’m making it out to be. In reality, if I were in an office, I’d have a good number of distractions to wade through in order to meet my time management deadlines. Where there was once an early morning commute there is now an early morning campaign to tire out the dog and the baby before a 9:30 am start; my leisurely lunch hour has been replaced by a mid-day walk and a fistful of calorie conscious snacks; and the occasional chat by the watercooler with a stranger has been replaced by meaningful interactions with my bright-eyed baby who is changing more and more every day.





Like I said, babies change everything. And even though there are bound to be some hiccups and some hard days, I’m game for the changes ahead. I’m so grateful to be able to work and to be able to be here with Marin for her first giggles, her first nibbles and all of the firsts that I would otherwise have had to witness through a childminders video log. And I feel confident that by the end of next week I will have stopped tripping over the bouncy chair every time I get up to go to the toilet.





But with all that being said, I do feel like I am in the minority of working mothers. If there are any other working-from-home moms reading this, please send along your stories, tips and tricks! I’d love to hear from you because Marin and I are fumbling through at the moment and I just tripped over the bouncy chair.





Ariel x





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