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Who says you can’t have it all?

And what is “it all”?  It’s different for everyone but for me it’s a strong career, a positive role model to my twin daughters, a busy mum, a friend and a partner.  Here I’ll share the daily *ahem* adhoc musings of a career mum.

I’ve been inspired by many role models in my life and I’m living a full life as a result of supporters, advocates, family and friends and my own grit and drive.  Hopefully I can share some of this positive inspiration to help others forge their own path to their success.

Long ago I was struggling with my own identity and lacked a lot of self worth.  It took many years of a strong support network for me to turn things around, and grab life and own it.  I had a moment of clarity and things clicked.  What happened next was life changing – and all because I was in the driving seat.  I start getting promotions, I started taking feedback well and pivoting on poor behaviours.  I joined the SES and promptly started training field members in core skills with my training qualifications.  I swept myself through a marriage and subsequently twins.  Returning to work for me was difficult.  I wasn’t satisfied 3 days in the office and 4 days at home with my girls.  Why?  Because I wasn’t being challenged at work and I began to resent work and home.  After some soul searching I realised I’m not one who can be spinning plates, I need to be in control – so I took control again and increased my days at work and increased the support at home to compensate.  Again I started receiving promotions and working on exciting challenges.  I had teams in Bne, Syd and China and I traveled frequently for work New Zealand, China and Sydney.  It fueled my fire even more and I started taking on additional challenges outside of work – adding to my volunteer repertoire, I became a Justice of the Peace.  After a while something broke, my marriage, but the rest of my life forged ahead, and that was just another stream in rapids which I was navigating.

When I reached a fork, I decided to take on more challenges and I started a new career at a new organisation, leaving behind 14 years at a place I grew up at, a place which had been the constants for a lot of firsts in my life, and was now another first – leaving my safety net.  I didn’t realise how heavily I had relied on this – it was my one constant and I changed it and was starting my new adventure on my own, a single mum trying to make her way.  After this challenge I tackled more and more.  I joined a Management Committee for a community group tackling the needs of the community in Logan and then after being inducted at the AGM, of course I threw myself into the role of the Secretary.  Why?  To challenge myself more and fill the voids that I didn’t know I was filling.  Then I was at an event night for a non for profit charity addressing homelessness for mothers with small children.  I instantly became the Executive Officer of a small charity whose hopes and dreams of expansion were well outside my capacity as a volunteer managing a small company.  That was an amazing life lesson – know your limits.  I stepped down a year later, and after a month, they invited me back as a Non Executive Director.  This suits where I am with life capacity.

I’m driven by people and I have a people first culture.  It’s guided me well in the past – but something I still feel is missing – is the perfect relationship with my daughters.  Why can’t I wrangle this when I consider myself a people person?  Well, hopefully as I share things with others along the way, i’ll keep learning more about myself, my girls and from others which I can use to take me on a new journey – my journey of hope and memories.