Pursuing My Dreams

I gave up a lot of my professional dreams when I had a baby.

Don’t get me wrong — I wanted to be a mom and I was happy to give up my personal goals for an even bigger dream of having a child.

But last week I spent the week at a writer’s conference working on manuscripts I’ve written and talking with other aspiring authors. It was wonderful to have adult conversations and feel like I had goals and dreams other than getting through a day without a public temper tantrum.

One of the things we talked about at the conference was finding the time to write, or to pursue any dreams that are not child-related. One instructor suggested setting aside an hour a day to focus on nothing but writing. That sounds great, but for a mom, that usually means getting up at 5 a.m. before anyone else stirs. That’s just not going to happen.

I’d love to have the best of both worlds — be a stay-at-home mom while also pursuing my professional dreams.

How do you find time to pursue your personal dreams while raising a family? Any tips or advice on how to do both?