[ENG] Long time no see or what is change?

Long time no see or as a Russian expression says ’not even half a year passed’.. not sure if that’s ok to say in English but, oh well, you have to live with the fact that I am not a native speaker and my blogs in English and Russian are not direct translation.

Anyways, I am back! Let’s see for how long :) It took me about half a year to get back. And most of you know why. Another move! Oh yeah, moveler mom was on a move. Now in a semi-new country again (semi-new as I lived in Amsterdam for almost a year before), back to work full-time after my maternity leave, new job, new home, just the same family which is nice.

So people ask me: ‘How do you do that?’ My answer varies depending on my mood and all of them are true:

• I have no idea..

• I don’t..

• Just fine! It’s not difficult at all

• Everybody is doing that so do I

• Ah, I only have one kid, imagine it was 3 or 4…

• My husband helps a lot, I wouldn’t be able to do that without him

So in the end, you just need to take your time and find your way. It all falls into its places after all. I know that now. It is definitely a change and a challenge… Well, actually for me I counted 5 big changes. Change number one was having a baby, change number two was living together with my husband (haha yes we moved in together when I was 8 months pregnant), change number 3 was moving to a new country with the baby (!), change number 4 was going back to work full-time after maternity leave and change number 5 was to start a completely new role with more responsibility in a new business (still the same company though which helped a lot). So we managed just fine and there was no doubt, but sure the amount of time you used to spend on some other things than just work and home became limited but not non-existent.

All of that made me think about change. Obviously there were changes in my life and I guess I wanted it somehow, I was embracing the change, and then I needed a change. Does it become your lifestyle then? Can you live without a change?

We face changes all the time from very early age and no matter what we do with our lives. One doesn’t need to move abroad, even if you stay in your hometown, you cannot avoid change. It’s natural and very common from the day you are born. You are growing – you are changing, you are learning – you are changing. Daycare, school, university, job, cities, countries, people, friends, languages, cultures… all around is changing. Then why people are afraid of change? Some are less, some are more. I guess subconsciously we are seeking for stability in this changing world. Somehow to compensate the opposites to find our inner balance. I was thinking what was stable in my last year? Definitely not the country or city, not the language, not my environment, not even people except my family. My family was the only stable element, my constant. But even this is not 100% stable. My man is Spanish and, oh man, how many times he changes plans if you just knew. This also played a role in my attitude to change and sticking to the plans (or it became more of ‘unsticking’ :)).

Becoming a mom also became a stability factor. It’s kind of funny as before I thought it’s just more stress, thus no stability. But it was totally opposite. I needed to be stable in my thoughts, attitudes, and behavior to show this to my baby. I became more patient simply due to priority shift. If before I would be worried about changed plans, friends being late for a meeting, some unanswered e-mails at work or delayed action points, now it’s just secondary.

And the last but not least is myself… Have I changed? Yes! But not my principles, not my beliefs, not my character. So that’s hell of a stability element for myself too. It’s a cliché but so true – how important it is to be yourself. Like Generation X was saying and Millennials are following.

Change has an interesting nature. We talk a lot about change in life and at work these days. It’s unavoidable.. Inevitable.. Certain. I will always have an opinion that changes are good. It opens up the doors to new things, it creates new opportunities. It’s fun and interesting. It motivates, it drives us, it makes us stronger. You just need to find your way to face it and adjust to it, and most of the time we are in control of the change for ourselves.

So think about it what it means to you… and I will go and observe my baby changing – it’s happening and noticeable every day!

#movelermom #change