Finding The Balance Between Motherhood & Blogging

It’s sometimes a mystery; “how does she do it?” But yes, it’s possible to have a successful blog of your own while running a household, and raising children. It only takes a little balance.

Motherhood isn’t an easy task for anyone – don’t let social media and television fool you! But a small business, or even a blog to the mix? It can be downright chaotic at times!

Have you ever heard the Fire Anaolgy? Imagine everything in the room is on fire, all at the same time. The chores are on fire, the kids are (metaphorically) on fire, as well as your relationship and self-preservation. If you’re trying to run a small business, or turn your blogging passion into something profitable? Yeah, that’s also on fire too. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

So how do you deal with the fires?

Some days, you’re running back and forth between each fire, with a glass of water. Just enough for a quick douse, before you run to the next small inferno. Other days, you might surprise yourself by having a fire extinguisher handy, and can knock down several flames at once.

That is the balance between parenting, and blogging. It’s the ability to control the flames, as much as you can, given the tools that you have available.

Not all of the fires are going to go out completely. Some, will reignite. Others will never fully die down. The key is to remember that the point isn’t to put out every fire – but to maintain what’s burning enough to keep moving on to another fire.

Ok, enough with the fire analogies!

But seriously, maintaining a working blog and being a Mom, isn’t very far off. Some days I feel like my blog is suffering when I haven’t written anything new in a while. But as that’s happening, my house is cleaner. I’m able to spend more time with my son. And, my husband and I are able to reconnect after a long week’s work.

Other days, I’m so focused on getting a new post written, taking sponsored photos, or answering a dozen emails that other things are neglected. I might not get to that laundry pile. The dishes aren’t removed from the dishwasher. And if it’s the holiday’s, those Christmas presents aren’t wrapped until Christmas Eve.

My son is my first priority.

And that doesn’t change, no matter what’s going on. Emails and chores can always wait. Being a Mom is never a fire that needs to be put out. And I wouldn’t be a blogger today, if I weren’t a Mom first!

Just because being a parent is my number one priority, I’m not throwing shade to anyone else. If you’re a career woman, and blogging is your main source of income, go for it! But what works for me, sometimes comes down to ignoring a client’s email for a few hours while I read bedtime stories, and tuck my little one into bed.

So how do I really balance my job and my role as a Mom?

With careful planning, and a lot of flexibility! Not to mention the fires again, but look at it like this. You only have so much water in a day’s time. For me, most of that water goes to my child. So I schedule time throughout the day for the delegation of another supply of water. So much time is scheduled for keeping the house together. Another block of time is saved for working on my blog and business.

If I decide mid-pour that this cup of water, could be used elsewhere, I switch over. Because the beautiful thing is – the fires aren’t real.

It’s important not to take on more than you can handle…

And that’s a very important of the balance between Mom & Blogger. Only you know what you can accomplish in so much time. Too often, women struggle with doing it all. being a wife, being a Mother, writing a blog, working on their social influence. None of this is easy, but you can control it.

If you know you can’t write 700 words during a day that the plumbers are working on your sink and the baby’s fussy from teething, then don’t commit.

If you know that you have article’s due in 3 hours, and the laundry room looks like a disaster area, then ignore clothes for a day.

The worst thing you can attempt, is doing everything at one time. In the end, nothing may get accomplished the way you want, and it only causes more stress on yourself.

Self care is more important than you think…

Your blog can be your passion (or job!) and you can be a good Mom too. But if you don’t take some time for yourself, you’re entering the danger zone. And I mean real time, not calling ‘washing the dishes” your Me-Time.

Running a household, parenting, and blogging, is all forms of work. Your self-care time should be just that; time to improve yourself.

Because in the end, no matter how good you are at balancing your many roles, and putting out those fires, one thing remains. You can’t pour water from an empty cup.