You don’t need anyone to tell you that life is very different now that you’re a mum. Your day-to-day life has changed. The way people treat you has changed. Above all, you have changed.
However, now that you are getting ready to go back to work after maternity leave, you need to prepare carefully to deal with a new, and potentially challenging, situation. Here are three tips to help you to resume your working life without too many problems.
Accept that your life has changed
You know your life has changed. You have new responsibilities. There’s a new, and very important, person in your life who relies on you for so much. Of course, things have changed.
Don’t try to be the person you were a few months ago. You’ve moved on. You’ve added the role of being a mother to who you are. There’s an additional dimension to your life that wasn’t there before.
However, you still have the skills you had when you stopped work. You still have your experience in the workplace. You still have your qualifications and the successes you achieved at work behind you. When you go back to work after maternity leave, you will be able to draw on these achievements, and on your experience, to help you to do a good job.
Remind yourself that in the time you have been away from work you have grown. The major change you have made is to extend your capabilities.
Get to know the new you
You are a different person now that you’re a mum, so check out who you are. Introduce yourself to the new you. Find out what the new you want out of life.
Think about how you want to plan your life and what you want to fit into your life. Think about how you want to organise your life at home. Focus on your working life, too. Do you have the same ambitions and expectations as you had before your child was born? Do you still like your job as much – or as little – as you did a few months ago?
Give yourself time to get to know yourself. It is so important that you do this. Your perspective on life has changed. Make sure you know what the new you really want.
See yourself as others will see you
Having a child changes a lot about you, physically, mentally, psychologically and more. You have coped with those changes. However, people at your workplace may find it more difficult to cope with the changes they will see in you. Some people at work will know how to treat you. Others will struggle.
Commit to helping them.
Decide how you’re going to present yourself at work. Be prepared to explain, and make sure you know, where your work now fits into your life.
Plan ahead. Life will be easier when you return to work, as a result.
Back to work after maternity leave
So, are you ready? Have you planned your return to work?
You’ll enjoy your work – and your time as a mother – more, if you do. There’s no time like the present, so start planning your return to work today.
Monica Varo is an integrative therapist. She helps her clients to become the people they always hoped they could be. If you’d like her to do the same with you, send her a message through this form
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