Pour a cup of coffee and let’s dive into some questions I received from my coffee talk poll, as well as some random thoughts I’d share if we were having coffee together!
How Is Life Since You Left Your Corporate Job?
One of the most popular topic requests from my last few reader polls has been an update on life post-corporate world.
If you’re a newer reader, you may want to catch up on these posts first: Resignation Announcement / Q&A: Corporate World Exit (Decision & Transition).
It’s been 18 months since I resigned from my corporate job to stay home with the kids and work on Carolina Charm full time, and it’s been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made for our family. And I couldn’t be more grateful that we could make it work.
Leaving the corporate world has impacted us in many, many ways, and I could honestly write an entire post on each way, but at a very high and concise level, here are the positive outcomes so far…
I’m happier. Our kids are happier. Matt is happier.
We could move to the burbs and renovate our home. With me being home full time I have more capacity to manage the majority of the projects, deliveries, construction meetings, and service appointments.
Our mornings run smoother and I’m no longer scrambling to get myself and the kids ready and out the door at the same time. I love making them breakfast (most mornings). And since we don’t have to divide the transportation duties, Matt can leave much earlier and come home later, allowing him to get more done at the office.
I am more supportive of Matt (sad but true) because we aren’t competing over whose job comes first AND Matt has been able to expand his law firm footprint further south too!
I’m able to put more time into Carolina Charm — usually about 20-25 hours a week (during daylight hours, not after the kids are in bed!), allowing me to push out more content, optimize my site, streamline processes, and increase my revenue.
My stress level is manageable now.
I no longer meal plan and order groceries during family movie night. I can run errands during the daytime and not drag our family around town tackling them on the weekends.
I am able to volunteer at the kids’ school.
Unexpected school pick-ups no longer send me into a tailspin. I don’t panic over school closures or finding childcare for holidays and teacher work days. And I’m not dividing my attention between work and the kids when they are home sick.
I’m not stressed over how many PTO days I have remaining and whether or not I should take one to do something fun with the kids during Teacher Work Day or save it for when I may need it.
I can pick the kids up from car pool without needing to bring my laptop or worry about an attorney urgently needing something while I’m in car line.
We could get a puppy!!!! And I can take her out 14 times a day.
I could go on!
While there have been far more positive outcomes than negatives, I’m not going to tell you life is perfect. It’s certainly easier in many ways, but there have also been unexpected challenges and ongoing adjustments/pivots. However, at the fear of sounding ungrateful, I’m not going to dive deep into those, but I just want y’all to know (specifically my working mom readers) that while the grass has been greener, there are things I miss like having coworkers, strategizing with colleagues, and doing something I was really good at.
New Bible
I got a new bible! And I’m really torn about it. My parents gifted me my bible back in 2008 and it’s got 15 years of notes, highlights, doodles, and prayers written throughout the pages. It’s so special when I flip to a page and find something that resonated with me when I was in college, newly married, pregnant, becoming a mom, losing my dad, and more. The pages are wrinkled and bent, and the leather cover is so worn and cracked that flakes of leather pop off every time I open it.
On the flip side, I’m really excited about my NEW bible! It’s a hardback women’s study bible and while I haven’t spent much time in it outside of Nehemiah (the book we’re studying in bible study), it’s packed with study notes, reflections, and STUNNING illustrations.
Q3 Family Meeting
Matt and I squeezed in our Q3 Family Planning Meeting last week and I’m proud of us for actually keeping up with our meetings this year. In the past we haven’t prioritized our quarterly check-ins, but with so much going on right now we really needed to take the time to make some decisions on house projects, review the budget, discuss holiday travel, work stuff (my busy season is quickly approaching) and a few other things. I’m feeling so much more organized and on the same page.
Kids Bedtime
The second most popular topic request — sharing the results of the kid’s bedtime poll!
In case you missed it, I recently polled y’all on what age your kids started putting themselves to bed. The answers were all across the board, from 4 to 17 years old! However, the most popular response was 7-9! I have so many questions though and wish I could have made it more of a conversation than a poll…because we have an 8 and 9 year old and they are WIRED at bedtime. It’s like they get this huge burst of energy as soon as we say “time to head upstairs and brush your teeth!” And it takes both of us at least an hour to get them down.
While I love reading, praying, and tucking them in, I strongly dislike the hour leading up to it. So Matt and I are trying to come up with a new bedtime routine for them — maybe something like we give them 30 minutes upstairs to read in their beds and then we tuck them in…but I know they are just going to sprint back and forth to each other’s rooms, giggling and wrestling.
All that to say, if you’ve got any bedtime tips, leave them in the comments for me (and for everyone else too)!
