"The Next Meeting You Book Better Be With You.": Words from a Working Mom @ Ceridian

*These are my words and serve as a review of my life summing up the last 18 months or so. I am confident that everyone who reads this will relate to some degree or another and I hope that sharing my story will help make life better for you in some sense or another. P.S. Happy New Year!

2017 was good to us. 2018 was even better. I'm so grateful to have been able to take a full year away from work caring for our son (he'll be 19 months next week!) because it was the best time of my life. While he's been sleeping like a champ since 9 months, I'm still in sleep training mode myself. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

I hustled in the first two quarters of 2017 because I knew I would be away for some time and that our lifestyle would certainly change- financially and socially. Doing what I love and with the help of the different hormones surging through my body, I finished my year and then some. It was a proud moment for me. I must admit, it is difficult to relinquish and say farewell when you're accountable to your team(s) and your customers. I felt anxious about it. My due date was June 23rd but it was 2 a.m. June 14th when I started going into labor. Finally! But wait! No, I still had calls and meetings booked for the next few days. No problem, I'll just work through the contractions- I'm sure they're not THAT bad. Turns out he wanted to introduce himself ASAP so we went to the hospital and we started on the journey that is labor and childbirth. My partner refused to let me take my laptop into the hospital so I did my best to work off my mobile. I only started answering calls once the epidural had been administered- much love to Fidel Pages and Achille Mario Dogliotti for the greatest gift you could ever give a woman suffering the agony of childbirth! Luka came at 6:30 p.m. on June 14th and I said my goodbyes to work on the 16th.

A devastating loss in our family over the summer of 2017 really put things in perspective. I could see with a clear mind the full circle of life right in front of me. He (Luka) was here now and she was gone. Having had a successful career as a Director of HR, she would always tell me that the most important person in this world is you. If you're not good, nothing else matters because people will always need YOU. Your partner/fiance/husband, your children, your parents, your siblings, his parents, friends, colleagues, your employees, customers, and the list goes on. Fast forward to the spring of 2018 and we find out that my grandfather in Romania isn't doing well at all. Chances are that if you are older than 75 years old living in a remote village in a post-Communist country, life isn't great. Thankfully, my parents have been able to make life more comfortable for them and the rest of the family.

My partner and I had just put our house up on the market to sell and after hours and hours of planning with my family, we decided that in May 2018 we would all go to Romania to see my mother's family, for what would most likely be the last time we would see him alive. Since my parents came to Canada in 1983, we have never ever been back as an entire family unit. And of course, on the request of my uber-superstitious father, my mother, Luka and I would depart on one flight, while him and my two brothers would catch one on the next day. I was excited! I hadn't seen any of them in over 18 years! And they would actually get to meet their first great-grandchild and second cousin/nephew. The next two weeks were filled with so much love and nostalgia- my Mom and Dad were homesick. They missed their country because that's where they come from. That's where their family is. Seeing my mother and grandmother interacting was such a surreal experience. My mother and her mother laughing together? Embracing each other for the first time in 18 years? It seemed strange because my mom has lived the past 38 years away from her home and now that I was a new mother myself, I saw my Mama in a whole different light- after all of these years, she still needed her Mama. It was definitely very emotional saying our goodbyes two weeks later.

By the time we returned, our place had sold and I spent the next weeks packing up the house we had called home for the past seven years. We started moving into our new home the first week of June and I had two weeks to get settled before I started back to work. We decided that we would have Luka's first birthday party and our house-warming at the same time on the Saturday before I officially came back and started my new role as a "Working Mom". We couldn't get him into day-care right away so the first six weeks back to work he was home with me. Thankfully, being able to work from home afforded me that ability.

Disclaimer: My mother, while not a "Working Mom", was a mother that worked hard- and continues to until this day (raising three children on a farm with a husband who would be gone up to two-three weeks at a time on long-haul throughout Canada and the US and trying to keep up with everything is a role that unfortunately doesn't have an adequate compensation plan- the OT would be a killer for payroll). I have the deepest admiration for women and men who are stay-at-home parents and commit their every-day life to their home and families by striving to make life better for their loved ones.

The last six months have not been easy. I've done my best to take care of those around me- Mika, our Vizsla included- and it has taken a toll on me. I'm drained and and I've become an expert on neglecting myself. As long as "they're ok", I'm "ok". NO! Not okay at all. You can't heal the parts without treating the whole- right? I haven't made it a priority to do things that benefit ME (folding laundry and preparing dinner doesn't count). The minutes and hours go by and you try your best to squeeze in as much as you can. The next thing you know, you've spent 3-4 consecutive hours in your chair and you're looking at your pup who's sitting on the couch across your desk telling her: "Ok girl, I promise we'll go after this call." I'm sorry, but she gets fed up with my excuses and I suffer because ultimately, I'm not doing my cardiovascular system any favors. So from now on, I've decided that I am scheduling a recurring meeting every day with "me" and I will take myself out of my office and go do something that helps "reset" my body and mind. It will be between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and I will make every minute count.

Trust me, whoever your employer is, they want- no correction- they NEED you to be healthy and happy because that's when you're most productive. Plus the happier you are, the happier you'll make those around you- even if you are virtual! :)

I am a Working Mom at Ceridian and so happy to know that this organization truly does want to make work life better for us and our customers. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks where we will be taking part in a webinar series about fitness and health. Webinars will include:

• Clean Eating Reboot
• Exercise in Cold Weather (especially interesting if you live somewhere like Ottawa)
• The Gut Brain Connection

So to all of you out there who struggle with self-care due to an overwhelming schedule, don't fear, notifications can always be programmed.

Wishing you all the very best for 2019!

Best regards,

Elizabeth