Find your Wings

Our Neighbourhood Volunteering Worker,  Jenny has shared her experience of returning to work after having children in this brilliant poem:

Being a working Mum is no easy task

In the air are a million things you juggle

 Days where you feel you can take on the world

And others are an uphill struggle

 

Endless application forms & interviews

Rejection can feel pretty tough

But when somebody calls to offer you a job

You cry, because you finally feel ‘good enough’

 

 My day will start with a large cup of coffee

And regularly, you’ll catch me yawning

I certainly don’t need an alarm clock

As the children wake me in the morning

 

Lack of sleep can be the hardest

5.30am, when my boys are awake and alert

Morning madness, the rush and school run

By 9am, I feel like I’ve already done a full day’s work

 

Mum guilt hits me as I wave them off

I cuddle them and give them a kiss

I enter this new world of work

And tell myself ‘you’ve got this’

 

For me, working is important and healthy

Wanting to learn and use my brain

I am still me, but with different priorities

And parts of life are not quite the same

 

I have always been a confident person

Returning to work is such a huge thing

The nerves, the anxiety, can I do this?

Hoping they’ll like me for all I hope to bring

 

Teams meetings and zoom calls

Unfamiliar faces fill my screen

A new project, a laptop and phone

A new role within a brand new team

 

I’ve adapted to these new ways of working

I miss the office banter but work from home

But I throw myself in where I can

And there’s always someone on the end of the phone

 

When the day is over, I try to switch off

I look forward to getting the boys in bed

Wondering what new challenges I’ll face

As ‘Volunteers’ and ‘Spreadsheets’ fill my head

 

As I climb into bed and turn off the light

And try to get some much needed rest

I remember what I tell my children

“You can only try your best”

 

My advice to any Mum returning to work

Is, it is an emotional rollercoaster ride

Take each day as it comes

And you will fill yourself and family with pride

 

Be proud that you are a working Mum

Embrace opportunities, the job and all it brings

I promise that you’ll find your feet

I promise you’ll find your wings.