Diary of a mum returning to work – From thinking to doing
Lucy Mason is a freelance writer who lives in South London with her husband and three daughters. She gave up work after she had her youngest child, but now feels the time is right to return again. She documents the very real ups, downs and dramas of a mum attempting to relaunch her career while raising three young children.
From thinking to doing
This is it! Today I’m going to get off my backside, I’m going to stop thinking and talking about it, and start actually doing something about getting back into work.
I loved my career as a freelance writer. I loved the challenge of making contacts, selling myself (my writing, not actually myself), meeting new people, making deadlines. I may not have been writing columns in a national newspaper, but I was really proud of what I’d achieved.
I gave up working full time in 2006 when my first child was born. I was working at Sky and couldn’t really negotiate down my hours while working as a freelancer. I worked part time on projects at home right up until my second daughter was born in 2007 – I remember finishing a feature for Pregnancy and Birth magazine when she was five days old. By the time my third arrived in 2010 I realised I had to throw in the towel, at least for now. Looking after three very young, demanding children made it impossible to spare not only the time, but also any shred of physical or mental energy needed to do anything else.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not complaining. I know I’m very lucky to have three healthy children, and a partner who earns enough to pay the mortgage while I look after the kids. I have nothing but respect and admiration for any woman who manages to work and take care of children, especially on her own.
But now, the eldest two girls are in full time school and my youngest is settling into nursery. Soon I’ll be free of the lot of them (joke!) so it’s time to do something for myself again. Dust down that saddle and get back on that horse!
I just hope my writing (use of metaphors in particular) improves before anyone actually asks me to do any work.
