No Choice But To Pull The Plug
I was 36. I was lucky enough to have a woman as a boss at the time. She was a mother of two, and understood my need to slow down.
Over the course of a year, I cut down drastically on my assignments and increasingly worked from home.
However…
By then I was in a leadership role, and had to sit through long meetings, where sometimes I had to lead difficult discussions under pressure. This, I felt, was taking a lot out of me.
So I decided to pull the plug completely. Two months later, I was pregnant with my daughter. I was 37.
In my case, I had to sacrifice my career to become a mother.
Energy Level Varies Wildly Between Individuals
There are women, I believe, to whom working under pressure comes naturally. Or at least, more naturally than it does to others.
Each of you may know a friend or two (or more) who managed to have multiple children while at the same time keeping high-power careers.
I wasn’t one of them. I learned to accept how I was built biologically.
I Chose Not To Go Back To Work – And Fell Pregnant Again
After struggling to conceive for 6 years, I wanted focus on my baby daughter. Knowing my insecurity and my hard-wired workaholic nature, if I went back to work even part time, I knew I would feel pulled and torn into different directions. That wasn’t the feeling I wanted to bring into my bond with my daughter.
There was a fear of never being able to get back on my career track. But for once, I did not want fear to control my life.
Then I conceived at age 40. Again, it was when I was not working, enjoying the slow life and focusing on my dear daughter’s and my own well-being.
