Do We Need To Sacrifice Our Lives And Careers For Parenthood?
Written by Karen Leigh, Mindset Coach & Hypnotherapist
Karen Leigh works with your powerful subconscious mind using Hypnotherapy & NLP to turn your self-worth and self-belief all the way up! She is the founder of Soul Sanctuary Glasgow, a place where you can enjoy mindfulness classes and connect with like-minded souls!
Parenthood is often portrayed as a delicate balancing act, leaving many to wonder if thriving in both personal and professional realms is truly possible. Do we need to sacrifice our ambitions and passions to nurture a family, or is there a way to harmonize both? This article explores the challenges, societal expectations, and practical strategies for redefining success as both a parent and a professional.
All I ever wanted was to be a mother. Aside from some career aspirations I had as a teenager, I would daydream about having children one day.
From the age of fourteen, I struggled with an eating disorder that spanned three decades. These are vital years as we are growing significantly and I was putting a lot of stress on my body. By my mid-twenties, I began to worry if motherhood would happen for me due to the damage I may have caused during my bulimia struggles.
Fortunately, and gratefully, I had my son, aged twenty-seven, followed fifteen months later by my daughter. Both happened naturally and were both the biggest and happiest surprises!
Having felt very lost in my working life and never really figuring out what I wanted to do, I decided at age thirty to go to university to study Business Management. Having my children definitely gave me the motivation to provide the best life for them, and because I still did not know what I wanted to do for my career, I believed at the time that studying Business would set me on a prosperous path at least.
This set me off on a major personal growth journey, and as well as focusing on a career, I also started doing the deep, inner work. I began instilling deep-rooted self-belief in my capabilities and possibilities and turned my self-worth all the way up! Funnily enough, these would end up being the main focus when working with women on my coaching programs.
Fast forward to graduating, and life began to look a little different. I successfully juggled university, working part-time, and raising my children as a solo mama. I had a new-found drive to create something of my own, and I trained in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and Hypnotherapy and started my own business, Soul Sanctuary Glasgow, where I host women’s circles and work with clients on overcoming their emotional and mindset blocks.
For me, I completely embraced this journey of motherhood and finding a career that felt good for me. Something that felt like I was contributing to society. It is a clichè. However, it really did feel like I’d found my calling. It still does!
I know from chatting with other women and hearing others stories, that parenthood, particularly single parenthood, is often very challenging and brings with it many stresses. And although, of course, there have been challenging times that I have had to navigate, I refused to believe that it had to be hard! And as time went on, I definitely pushed my boundaries to reflect this belief!
In January 2024, after selling my home and giving away my belongings, my children and I set off on an adventure abroad (Texas, and ending up in Bulgaria), a suitcase each and nothing more, other than excitement and anticipation for how our adventure would play out. I was homeschooling and still building my business. It is pretty mind-blowing for me looking back, now that we are back in Scotland and settled, my children choosing to go to school. And one phrase keeps coming to my mind: It was not hard to leave, and it was not hard to start again!
My children are aged twelve and ten now. Our lives have been filled with love, challenges, loss, adventure, excitement, hurt, and happiness. A rollercoaster on this phenomenon we call life!
And it prompts me to ask the question: Do we need to sacrifice our lives and careers for parenthood?
I don’t believe we do!
I feel I’ve experienced the best of both worlds and that I can be an example that there is room for everything in life that we desire and wish to experience.
I feel we live in a society that believes we have to choose one or the other if we want to succeed, and I see many making this choice and sacrificing something they truly desire. I hope that I can distort that reality and be an example of someone who created a life on their own terms and one that came from within, resulting in a feeling of fulfillment and lust for life!
Read more from Karen Leigh
Karen Leigh, Mindset Coach & Hypnotherapist
Karen Leigh is a leader in the power of our subconscious mind, and works with you to change your inner world, resulting in the outer world you desire!
After overcoming her own limiting beliefs about her capabilities and possibilities in the world, and turning her self-worth all the way up. She has exceeded her own expectations of what was possible in life, experiencing true adventure, friendship and pushing boundaries in life, and would love to live in a world where her peers are fulfilled and content too!
