Off-ramped and Unbalanced

I think people assume that when you quit your job to stay home, time suddenly appears out of nowhere like that annoying hair on your chin. Oh! You’ll have time to go to the gym, get your nails done, keep the house immaculate, dry your hair and pluck your eyebrows (and that errant chin hair).

But reality says, uhm, yeah, I’m staying home, not working, not commuting, but I still have A CHILD to look after. Which takes a lot of time. Loads and loads of energy-sucking, mind-bending time. I’m not saying being a SAHM or working is harder, but I will say that sometimes being a full-time mom is a bigger time suck.

I know that when I worked, I didn’t work from 7 am to 8 pm, but now that I’m home, I’m on the clock most days for at least 13 hours. This is not counting up at night, awake earlier than the sunrises, and general “I need the covers mommy” at 10:30 pm.

Now I know that when I worked, I’d have to be a mom for 2 hours in the morning, a professional at the office, and then a mom again for a few hours at night, but I remember at least being able to close the door on someone if I didn’t feel like talking. Now, there’s always Dora to help me do that at home, but I can hardly leave the room for too long.

As much as I’m making asinine comparisons, this post isn’t for trying to figure out what’s harder, what’s more stressful, what’s better for your kids or anything.

I would just like it to be known to the general public, or whoever comes to my blog via the search terms, “the smart way to quit your job” (now you’re talking!) or “signs that your boss is interested in you,” (uhm, run!?) or “old people,” (because some days I feel like I’m 90 by 6 pm), that there is no balance at home either. We, as moms, are unbalanced either way we try to do it.