September 2016 - My new career
Emilie, our first Belgian visitor, arrived and with her Geert left to Belgium and Norway for work.
It was sure nice to have company while Geert was gone.
Although I've been used to Geert being gone a lot when we lived in Belgium, I was very curious to see how that would feel here, without my family, my friends, my work, ... I'm very happy to say that, although I missed him, I didn't get depressed nor was there any drama 😆. Goes to show that when you feel good, it doesn't matter where you are, or who you have around you, you can handle things just fine! 👊
Mid September Emilie went home.
Now that we were kind of settled down and the kids were going to school, it was 'just me' during the day ... 'me', without my work, my social activities from back home, my family, my friends ... 'just me'. Am I comfortable in my new role as a 'stay at home mom' like they call it here?
First of all, I dislike that term! It doesn't really raise my self esteem 😑, but I assume this is rather caused by my own stereotyping (or is it prejudice 😏) then by the term itself.
I've also realised that I attach (too much) importance to how other people perceive me. And let's be honest, in our society that perception is often based on what you do in life. So I was, and after 10 months (I'm writing this post in April 2017) in fact still am, pretty defensive about my new occupation.
You have no idea how often people asked me 'but what do you do all day now?'. And although I do understand that question, I probably would have asked it too, it feels like I have to justify myself ... Why? Because that question is often asked with a pejorative tone full of assumptions, and remember folks, I'm in the defensive mode here!😬
And yes, I've got my coffee times with the ladies on a regular basis ... and I love it!😉
Working full time with 2 kids and a husband who was often gone was challenging at times. But for a pretty chaotic person as I am, work also gave me structure ánd an 'easy' way to feel appreciated and needed. Now I have to create that structure myself and find other ways to feel appreciated and needed ... it's like re-inventing yourself. And that takes time, but hey, that's exactly what I've got here! 👍
Luckily the kids enjoy this new situation (you never know with teenagers!) and they show their appreciation! It has definitely brought us closer together, and I'm sure we'll all profit from that for the rest of our lives.
And for Geert and myself? Well, it's very different too as we see each other all the time now ... but we love it! 😅
It was sure nice to have company while Geert was gone.
Although I've been used to Geert being gone a lot when we lived in Belgium, I was very curious to see how that would feel here, without my family, my friends, my work, ... I'm very happy to say that, although I missed him, I didn't get depressed nor was there any drama 😆. Goes to show that when you feel good, it doesn't matter where you are, or who you have around you, you can handle things just fine! 👊
Mid September Emilie went home.
Now that we were kind of settled down and the kids were going to school, it was 'just me' during the day ... 'me', without my work, my social activities from back home, my family, my friends ... 'just me'. Am I comfortable in my new role as a 'stay at home mom' like they call it here?
First of all, I dislike that term! It doesn't really raise my self esteem 😑, but I assume this is rather caused by my own stereotyping (or is it prejudice 😏) then by the term itself.
I've also realised that I attach (too much) importance to how other people perceive me. And let's be honest, in our society that perception is often based on what you do in life. So I was, and after 10 months (I'm writing this post in April 2017) in fact still am, pretty defensive about my new occupation.
You have no idea how often people asked me 'but what do you do all day now?'. And although I do understand that question, I probably would have asked it too, it feels like I have to justify myself ... Why? Because that question is often asked with a pejorative tone full of assumptions, and remember folks, I'm in the defensive mode here!😬
And yes, I've got my coffee times with the ladies on a regular basis ... and I love it!😉
Working full time with 2 kids and a husband who was often gone was challenging at times. But for a pretty chaotic person as I am, work also gave me structure ánd an 'easy' way to feel appreciated and needed. Now I have to create that structure myself and find other ways to feel appreciated and needed ... it's like re-inventing yourself. And that takes time, but hey, that's exactly what I've got here! 👍
Luckily the kids enjoy this new situation (you never know with teenagers!) and they show their appreciation! It has definitely brought us closer together, and I'm sure we'll all profit from that for the rest of our lives.
And for Geert and myself? Well, it's very different too as we see each other all the time now ... but we love it! 😅
💛💚💙❤
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