In every single book about staying home, there are chapters and chapters about what to do about boredom, what to do about loneliness, how you are going to miss your coworkers, and how you can get depressed from the lack of schedule and lack of interaction… I was fully expecting this to happen when I went into this thing.
But so far, nothing like that.
What I do experience is over-commitment, having to decide how many activities we can realistically fit into one day, lack of sleep trying to get everything done, and guilt about not spending enough time with all my various mommy friends and our out-of-town families.
Admittedly, what I am is actually a WAHM (Work At Home Mom), not a SAHM. I work up to 8 hours a week at nights, during naps, and whenever I can get the kids to play quietly on their own. Danielle wrote a really good description of what a typical day for a WAHM looks like. Go ahead and go there, just come right back here… I’ll wait for you! Another great post was written by Jill at BabyRabies about when she realized she is a WAHM, not a SAHM. These ladies have so effectively written for me what I am often too overwhelmed to write.
For me, so far in my journey I have found that it is not boredom or loneliness that I encounter, but instead something that is more like jealousy of the boredom and loneliness that I thought I would have. I have a wonderful but neglected Kindle that I would desperately love to spend some time with. Oh right, and a husband too…But instead I find that most of my spare time is spent frantically trying to pack in more of my social media work, just enough blogging to get by, and a constant concern about that stupid Klout score so that one day I might make some money off this blog.
I am definitely not complaining, I am still enjoying this current phase of my life. It’s just not quite what I was lead to expect it might be! What have been your biggest surprises?
