Juggling Being a Boss Babe and a Mother
Do I qualify?
When you think of a Boss Babe, who is it that comes to mind? If you’re like me, it’s an ambitious career-driven young woman, and if they’re a part of the Boss Babe Network, they’re probably stylish and gorgeous too right? This too was my picture of a Boss Babe, but the more life experience I gain, I have come to realize that boss women come from many different walks of life. They are not confined to a certain age bracket, pants size, or educational background. This discovery has ultimately led to the realization that even I, a thirty-something, yoga pants-wearing, mother of two, can be a Boss Babe too and I wear the title proudly.
A Quick Look Back
I spent the better half of my twenties supporting my husband as an Air Force wife, moving away from my family and everything I knew to begin building what we had hoped would be a strong foundation for our future family, and it was. When we decided to move home, he quickly finished his MBA while my daily activities consisted of chasing around two little ones, and they were my entire life. I loved being a mother, but I couldn’t deny the fire in my belly, and I knew without a doubt, that life had more in store for me. I wanted to go back to school, and just like that I made the decision, which at the time felt incredibly selfish, to apply to IUPUI to pursue my degree in marketing that I had wanted since graduating high school years earlier.
An Act of Rebellion
Any time that you do something that takes a little guts, you’re going to have some obstacles along the way. Some of those will be external, but a lot of them will be internal. There will be people that say you’re having a midlife crisis, people who laugh and point out that you have had other interests along the way, and others that will undoubtedly whisper behind your back and wait for you to fail. You’ll be faced with society’s acceptable timelines, and at some point, you WILL compare yourself to them. What I want you to know, is that your timeline is equal to whatever other timeline, that some person you don’t even know, put into place for us all to follow. Your journey is your own and it’s a beautiful one. Some of our paths are more direct, but I love a good scenic route. What is the rush? You owe it to no one to play catch up. Take the time to stop and appreciate where you are and how you got there.
Pursuing Education at Thirty
My journey through education at this age has been scary, hilarious, difficult and so rewarding. I have laid awake so many nights crying over different things from mom guilt to just simply being overwhelmed from trying to juggle it all. I have experienced fear of failing, on a weekly basis, and laughed at feeling like a dinosaur in class with these twenty-year-old kids. Now that I am in the home stretch, I can’t express how proud I am of myself for choosing something for me, and waking up every day to continue choosing myself in a small way. When you are a mother, so much of your life is dedicated to bettering everyone else’s life, and it can be really easy to lose yourself in that. I refuse to let motherhood be anything other than a piece of me that makes me a better person and a more loving and understanding human being. I want to look back on motherhood as something that enhanced my life and not as something that kept me from achieving everything my heart desires. I was Whitney before my children came, and I am going out as a better version of that girl. A wife. A mother. A Boss Babe.
Whitney Grimes
Instagram: @yesitsamomblog