Learning to juggle new motherhood with my career

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15: My to-do list: Laundry, write down milestones in baby book, fold clothes, empty dishwasher, change linen, take baby to the aquarium, pump, register for nursery schools.

Hi, please give me a moment to introduce myself.

My name is Tione Darrell. I am the club secretary at Tucker’s Point Club and I am the wife of Owen K. Darrell and mother to 10-month-old Tatum Suraeya Darrell.

As a new mother, working full time has its rewards and challenges. 

Having a family was always a priority when my husband and I got married. 

I have always known that I wanted to balance a career and a family. 

We were excited and, maybe a bit naïve, in our vision of parenthood.

Overall, it has been awesome and awe inspiring.

Becoming a mother has been wonderful but I never thought juggling parenthood and working would be this much work.

There never seems to be a dull moment and very little time just to sit and rest without dozing off to sleep.

After my maternity leave I headed back to work, where we were undergoing a number of transitions including a new operating system and a litany of ambitious projects waiting for action plans. I quickly realized that I had changed.

Everything had changed. I was no longer able to work long hours, and couldn’t pop in on the weekends without organizing it with my husband’s schedule or booking a sitter.

Suddenly the pre-pregnancy me that seemed to be a very organized individual needed to become more effective with time management.

I also had decided that I wanted to nurse my daughter for a year which brought about a different set of struggles that moms navigate.

How was I going to do all of this successfully? 

After days of feeling sorry for myself and not getting much accomplished, I came to from a stress-induced haze and realized I needed to get on with it.

Here are a few examples of how I modified my life to Get on with it:

1. Make a list of the things that need to be done. Make sure that you identify them based on their importance and deadlines.

Creating a list will give you the opportunity to prioritize tasks and give you a road map to follow. I am the Queen of the “to-do list.”

This is the one thing that saves my life and rescues me from the ever lingering pregnancy brain.

I have a working list for every aspect of my life. Home, work, honey do, and a necessity, personal goals.

2. Now take action. But not so fast….many of us go for the easiest and least time consuming task first. Instead, do the hardest and most complicated task first.

This will create a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to do more. 

You will want to do cartwheels when you have finally completed the one task that feels like a plague in your life.

I know I do.

3. Set realistic goals that can be accomplished. I used to put everything that needed to be done on my to-do list for that day and by the end of the day after attending meetings and members stopping in for  everything or people wanting information about membership, I would feel as if I wasn’t doing enough or didn’t have a successful day.

Remember to measure your success on all aspects of your work not just by what is on your list.

4. Celebrate accomplishments and be gracious to yourself. This is a great way to stay motivated. Whether you get your nails done or start a book you purchased on your kindle a month ago, find a way to relax and enjoy you.

I am still a work in progress but feel comfortable giving advice. One being, that the first step to resolution is realizing your weaknesses and working through them. I have learned that it is impossible to stay on top of everything all the time but the only thing to do is get on with it.

Tione Darrell is the club secretary at Tucker’s Point Club.