A year ago at this time, I was reeling from the fact that the supplier for my e-commerce business was going away from an independent Internet dealer model to an in-house Internet and retail model for selling their products and I was losing my full time job. The additional part time business that I had started almost a year earlier was only intended to be something that I could offer my e-commerce customers to help them achieve success in their health and fitness programs.
A year later, I find myself once again having a different full time job and the same part time business that I had last year at this time. The only difference is that my full time “job” is being a stay at home single dad and believe me, that is a full time job. Not that I ever doubted it, but I think that some husbands don’t realize how hard their wives “work” staying home with the kids. Let me add my voice to theirs in letting everyone know that although the rewards are tremendous, at the end of the day you find yourself pretty exhausted.
From breakfasts in the morning to the last few moments before they go to bed, my two little girls are active, needing this and that, playing, wanting to play and just requiring a lot of focus to make sure that they are happy, healthy, safe and feeling secure and loved. There isn’t much time for anything else.
My blessing is that I do have a part time job as a Team Beachbody coach that pays all the bills and I don’t have to leave the house to work. I get up early and do some work before the girls get up and during the day can check and send out some emails, but as far as taking time away from parenting, those demands are minimal. I honestly don’t know what I would be doing right now and where my girls would be if I hadn’t made a decision almost two years ago to add another dimension to my Howtobefit.com website other than just e-commerce. I actually dread thinking about it.
But in keeping with the way that I grew up with parents who were farmers, they were able to and I can, seamlessly integrate family into work life as one and be a role model for the family at the same time. My anguish and the uncertainty about what the future held a year ago have been replaced with new but far more rewarding challenges and it is an extraordinary blessing for my family
