The Phases of Life
I recently ran into an old college friend of mine. She is someone I always admired and envied, and I have to say, always wanted to be like. She was also the reason behind one of the best decisions I made, getting my masters from the UK. When we returned (she studied there too), we both took really different paths. I got married, had kids and devoted myself to my family. She excelled in her career, travelled everywhere for work, and did exactly what I thought I would do, devote herself to becoming successful. Fast forward to 2.5 years at a DVD shop. I of course was there with Yousef, buying him as many DVDs as possible to buy myself some sanity on that hectic day, while she was there looking for the latest movies. 20 minutes later I had gotten a major reality check. She was soon heading off to one of the most prestigious business schools there is to get her MBA. I was so happy for her, but something she said just clung to my head, she said: " I locked myself for the past 4 months studying non-stop, did the exam 4 times, that's how much I wanted it." While the latest goal I had put for myself was getting rid of my pregnancy weight! Laughing I said, "I go to the gym everyday, that's how much I wanted it." I'm not saying that moms are boring, goal-less or underachievers, on the contrary! It takes a lot of skill and brains to bring up a child. Not everyone can do what we do, and the outcome is amazing, I'm proud of that. But, I have to admit, for a brief moment, I felt defeat. And deep deep deep down, felt a bit shy that my professional life is currently taking the back seat. Seeing her brought back all the memories of the person I loved being, and the goals I was so eager to achieve. I then looked at Yousef holding his brand new DVD with a very cute look on his face and I remembered that I had another baby at home who will probably do something cute when we walked into the house and thought to myself, life has always been about phases.
1 comment:
as always you are speaking my mind.
i had the same experience -of course-
i had a career that i looooooved & when i decided to leave egypt & come to jordan to marry my best friend i thought i will have a career here too...
but as it turned out i couldn't & i chose to stay home with my children, but every time i go on facebook where i still have contacts with all my friends from work, or go back home & talk to them i feel really bad for this amazing life i once had & comparing it to a life of dippers & baby talk.
what is the hardest to me i think is that i don't feel that successful any more i mean at work you can tell when you're doing a good job with kids specially little don't talk yet tots like mine you can't tell at all. i miss this feeling im doing a super job feeling ALOOOOT!
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