Why my family will always come first.

Today, someone I worked with handed in her resignation then proceeded to cry about it for exactly an hour and three minutes.

See this person is going to have a “career break”. Having returned from maternity leave six months ago, this person has been continually ill, frazzled and on the verge of tears.

Over and over she told me the dream of ‘having it all’ is a farce, a fairytale of sorts.

I did what any relatively sane person would do and told her it will get easier and she can start her career up again in a couple of years. That being at home with the children and ‘taking one for the team’ (her words not mine) is honourable and something to be proud of, and of course she can come into the office to see us for some adult time.

Do I think any of the above will happen? It’s unlikely. However seeing someone so upset because they felt they were losing a part of their identity, got me thinking- my career is who I am. The buzz I get from it is insatiable and yet where does that leave me when I eventually decide to have children? Will I be able to have it all or will something have to give?

Or worse still am I missing the bigger picture and this is someone that is genuinely struggling and not getting the adequate support they need or is it just part of motherhood.

It’s not often I feel lost for words or don’t know how to support a colleague or friend, but today I felt useless.

So when I got home I kissed my husband extra hard and played with the puppy. Then whilst having family snuggles after, I remembered; the tears wiped from my cheeks in times of need, the funny stories told to make me smile during a bad day, the kisses and excited wag of a tail as I walk through the door. That’s when I knew; for these two and my beautiful little family, I would sacrifice everything.