Editorial Team
Written by Lucie Wilkins
Balancing Career and Life: How It Started…
At first, I didn’t intend to become a freelance blogger. I also hadn’t thought of the profession as something I could do hat was balancing career and life wise. In fact, when first starting my family, I did not really plan out how I was going to go about balancing career and life at all.
Back in 2014, we welcomed our gorgeous little boy Leon into the world. Just like the experience of most new mothers, it was a turbulent time settling in and learning all about our new addition. No sooner had I gotten the hang of things and was in full swing super mum mode, was I due back at work when my maternity leave ended. My little boy was only 9 months old.
Mum guilt kicked in – would he miss me? How many of his firsts would I miss? Am I a bad mum for going back to work so quickly? I was flooded with these feelings.
I had studied for many years to fulfill my passion for working with animals, and I soon realized that I was allowed to continue being my own person in addition to being a mum. In fact, it works better this way. Happy mum = happy son! My partner and I would rotate shifts, as well as receive help from family, which we were incredibly lucky to have.
In 2020, with our son now 6 years old, I found myself wanting to extend my passions of animals further. In particular, cats. From as far back as I can remember, we always had a cat in our home. I wanted to build a platform of knowledge about cats for cat owners. This is where kittycattree.com came to life and when I began my career as a freelance blogger.
I now found myself juggling an additional responsibility, but one that I was thoroughly enjoying. It started out as a hobby that I fit into my busy schedule whenever I had a few moments to spare. However, the passion soon took over and I began to look for ways in which I could balance my life in order to fit in more time for my enterprise as a freelance blogger.
Plan, plan, plan! That’s my motto! We have monthly planners, weekly planners, and meal planners. In our busy household, communication is key and this way we all know what’s on the schedule. My favorite planner is the Stylio magnetic dry erase set.
I primarily fit the bulk of my research and blog writing on my days off, whilst my son is at school, or once he’s asleep. Research plays a vital role in what I do, alongside my experience. I like to spend time reading up on topics before I put out any blogs or articles, as I want to ensure my content provides the knowledge and answers the user is looking for. When I’m off work and my son is out of school, I take time for quality bonding.
As a family with two working parents, we utilize help from family and after school clubs/school breakfast clubs. This helps us with childcare before and after school hours when needed. Sometimes it takes some moving things around, but we’ve managed to make it work for a long time. Unlike it once did in the aftermath of maternity leave, the planning no longer feels like a chore. My partner and I will usually find fifteen minutes or so a week to sit down together and plan out the schedules and make sure it all works.
I used to be someone who said “I don’t have enough time to do something like that,” but what I have come to realize over the past few years is that it’s all about planning and using your time wisely and productively. With this method and with a positive mindset, anything is achievable! Our family unit has never been happier!