Mumprenuer - A Rising Trend

Mumprenuer (noun): A boss lady of a business which she started from scratch, and who is also a mother. Multitasking at its finest.

I met up with a Mumprenuer over coffee at Starbucks yesterday. This was our first ever meet up, and yet it felt like we knew each other for years. Our acquaintance started off from Facebook, where she first requested my friendship. I had been trawling Facebook for groups for like-minded mummies in similar circumstances as I am, looking to find a balance between earning an income and being there for their families. And I guess she saw some of my activity there and hence approached me. We had communicated via Facebook since.

What triggered this meetup was my recent sit-down with my boss. I told her how tired I was about being pulled at both ends. I am only human, I cannot possibly clone myself to be at work AND at home whenever family needs me. Family will always come first, family is everything to me. Oh how I envied her lifestyle, where she is the boss of her own business, a business where she can work whenever she wants to, be there for her family whenever she is needed, spend an enviable amount of time with her kids and still earn a sustainable income, no boss to answer to, to feel guilty to whenever you need that time off for certain family commitments. So I had to know more.

So over coffee we met and shared. Mini Interview that I had with her up next!

What am I that You are mindful of me?

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.  How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!  Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you."
- Psalm 139:13-18

Pondering on these verses, I find myself in awe. What am I that You are mindful of me?

Be blessed this Sunday!❤

From scratch.

And you're going to be witnessing this from the very start.

Thank you for being part of my journey.

I will not announce it yet, just that the masterplan is brewing. I am extremely excited yet really quite nervous.

"If there was no choice, which would you choose?"

" If there was no choice, which would you choose: work or family?"

It was a dreary Friday morning, just a day after being finally back to work after taking 6 days of leave, 2 of which were urgent leave, having just nursed my toddler son back to health, when my boss sat me down to have The Talk with me. And this question, "If there was no choice, which would you choose: work or family?"

Well, I did not answer. I just sat quietly and listened to her as she tried to psycho me to thinking that choosing work will be the correct option. Having worked in this company since 2014, I have thus been posed this question twice. The first time was when I was pregnant with my son, my then boss wanted to know what my priorities would be once I become a mother. Then, naive as I was, having not experience motherhood and what that entails, enthusiastically said of course I would choose work. Fast forward 3 years, now that I am a mother, it is without a question, without any inkling of doubt that I would choose my son and family, in a heartbeat, even if I had to lose my job for it. I am first and foremost a wife and mother.

My boss is a married woman and a mother of two. I guess different women are programmed differently after all. I could see from her face as she told me about her experiences, claiming having been entirely in my shoes that she would love to be there for her kids, that it pained her, but still, to her work comes first. Something I cannot seem to fathom no matter how hard I try.  In my heart of hearts, I cannot deny the fact that family will always be here, you are indispensable at home, loved unconditionally, while work will not always be there for you as would family. In my opinion, it would be extremely foolish to choose work over family. I would regret that decision entirely. But to each her own. 

And so, I am this close to being extremely jaded. Sick and tired of this employee guilt which I need not feel. I am this close to just resigning and being MY OWN BOSS, starting up my bright idea business venture which is something entirely new, something I have never ever tried before. It is scary as much as it is exciting for the potential it holds. It always boils down to that leap of faith right? Watch this space! (;