The Importance of Following Your Passion as a Mom

I’ve been a writer since before I became a mother. Choosing a profession that required so much quiet time and me time to introspect and observe and jot down seemed like it was at absolute odds with the realities of early motherhood.

I’ve written books on the note section of my phone. I’ve jotted them down in the brief silences brought about by nap time. I’ve typed them out with one hand while balancing my kids on my knees with the other.

I’ve grumbled about having to cut short reader interactions to run to the dingy storage room of a book store to breastfeed my 4-month-old. I’ve whined about how I never have the time or the state of mind to write when parenting takes up the most real estate in my brain.

Yet, nothing quite compares to the pride I saw in their eyes at my reading at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan this week.

They sat along with the other kids in the room to hear me read my books, books they have seen and heard from the first draft to the last, and books they have had inputs on. And then they posed with me in front of my books displayed at the museum with wide smiles, squeezing my hand tight as we made our way back home. And that look in their eyes, that made me glad that I didn’t give up and that I didn’t throw in the towel about something I was passionate about despite the days that looked absolutely hopeless and filled with rejection. I don’t really know where I’m going with this post - but in case you are a new mom or a mom thinking of giving up on something that has been part of you because it seems like it’s the easiest thing to do, I hope this will help you take a pause and then get back to it rather than give up on it. It is always harder when the kids are young but I promise you that it gets easier.