Week #24: Mommy Break #24 of 52 - Embracing My Perfectly Imperfect Cadence
During this week’s mommy break I deviated from my “normal" of pampering myself and enjoying the company of friends to volunteer and help give back to some moms who may not be as fortunate as I.
The Perfect Cadence, a super fabulous fantastic awesome organization that celebrates expectant moms in need with showers, was hosting one of their showers on Thursday for New Moms Chicago's recent graduates of their child birthing class. New Moms’ is this AWESOME non-profit focused on breaking the cycle of poverty by providing moms in need support through housing, job-training, and a variety of classes to be great moms to their children. How AWESOME is that?
Ironically, my work week was unusually stressful and busy and I was starting to dread the notion of leaving work early and sacrificing getting a project done on time.
Sidebar: Moms especially should never let their jobs become consuming in this way. We two full time jobs, the second one starting at 5PM. We can’t let the day job burn us out our we will be no good for round two!
I made this commitment to the Perfect Cadence’s co-founder the week prior (and inquired about the opportunity weeks before). My mind was telling me that I couldn’t afford to leave work early to do a volunteer project, but my heart was telling me to be a woman of my word. "The work will be there and it will get done Nicole” (and it did). So on Thursday at 3:30 I left my work meeting as soon as it was over and headed straight out of the door to New Moms. Myself and the founder of Mama Fresh Chicago, welcomed the girls, shared our pregnancy experiences, answered their questions, and shared in their joy as they opened up their gifts.
My heart was so full on my way home from the event. I may complain about the burden of balancing being a working mom and being mindful of my “me-time”, but the mommies at New Moms have a different burden to bear. For them, it’s not about how they are going to get to the spa to have a mommy break (although all moms deserve a mommy break no matter what your circumstances may be), but more so making sure that they can provide for their child. In that moment, I realized that I need to embrace my perfectly imperfect cadence in this world no matter how slow or fast life may be, who am I to ever complain! I have the means to create the space to take a mommy break once a week. No matter how overwhelmed, tired, or burnt out I may feel, I am BLESSED, and I need to be a blessing to others as often as I can.
