Maintaining my work from home schedule

Where did the week go? I can't believe I haven't posted since Sunday - many apologies!

So here we are, one day left in the week, hooray!

Today was a great day for me. Not only was it a work-out-of-the-house day, I went to our Division office near Harrisburg and met with my new permanent supervisor. I was a bit nervous because it has been 3 months since I returned to work from my maternity leave , and it was time to evaluate my work from home schedule.



My boss was laid off the week before I returned from my maternity leave and I'm now on my second supervisor since my return. I expected to have colleagues who questioned whether or not I was actually working when I was working from home. So I've been working really hard to prove myself. Unfortunately, without a direct supervisor who knew me and my work ethic, I felt I had to work doubly hard to prove myself to both my colleagues AND my supervisor(s).

Since my return to work I've had a few obstacles to my goal of productivity. My laptop inexplicably wouldn't work. Eventually I bought a new router and called in the Geek Squad to get everything up and running. After weeks of wracking my brain and getting nowhere, I gladly paid the $150 for them to come get everything sorted out. I think it took my "Agent" half an hour to the problem sorted out, much to my relief.

Of course, sorting out my new identity took some getting used to as well. Mom? Wife? Dogwatcher? Dishwasher? Employee? It was difficult to know which me I was supposed to be and when. I tried very hard to be the same employee that I was before I had my son. I thought that to support my family and provide for my son, that that was what I had to do. I felt very strongly that I still wanted to work, but I often felt guilty, even on the days I worked from home, that I was not paying enough attention to my son. I worried that if I wasn't able to maintain my pre-baby production I wouldn't be able to financially support my family.

Eventually I worked that out too. It was only after I accepted the fact that life was inherently DIFFERENT that I was able to reconcile my various roles. And once I did, life was GREAT!

So once I got the hang of my new work-from-home/stay-at-home Mom/Employee routine, I started to really like it. There are incredible, innumerable benefits to being with my son 5 out of 7 days. But there are also benefits to being able to be around grown ups for a reliable 3 days a week. Continuing to be able to maintain my financial contributions to my family was very important to me as well. Needless to say, I am completely hooked on my current life!

So, it was with some apprehension that I prepared for the conversation to evaluate my current work schedule. Not apprehensive because of any personal doubt of my ability, but because it was so important to me that my work from home schedule be extended.

Luckily I was greatly relieved to hear today that my work schedule has been extended, and I am free to continue my great work-life balance set up!