mommybetweenmeetings

Today, I am writing my first blog. I don’t know how much people will relate to it, but I wanted to document everything I go through as a working mother.

One of the most common emotions every mother experiences is mom guilt. And if you are a working mother, you feel it a little extra.

One of the most difficult decisions after your child is born is choosing to continue working while leaving them at daycare. Every morning, when you leave your little one behind, it feels heartbreaking. You wonder why you are doing this to a baby who sees their whole world in you.

But life is all about making choices and taking difficult decisions. I chose to continue working to build a secure future for her.

I still remember leaving my first daughter at daycare when she was just seven months old. I cried just as much as she did. Thankfully, in India, we have some wonderful daycare service providers. They made her comfortable within a week, and slowly, I began gaining confidence and trust in the process.

Now she is eight years old, and I am still trying to make peace with the guilt I carried for leaving her behind so early. But motherhood challenges us at every stage. Now that she is in her foundation years at school, it feels difficult to balance work while keeping up with homework, studies, and all the little moments that matter.

Maybe we never completely escape mom guilt, but we learn to live with it — like an opinionated relative at a family gathering who constantly questions our parenting choices. We cannot always silence that voice, and sometimes we even wonder if there is some truth in it.

Still, we move forward with the decisions that feel right for us, because no one else truly understands our journey or circumstances.

Mom guilt is often created by impossible expectations placed on us by society, family, and even ourselves. While the future is uncertain, deep inside we usually know what truly matters to us. Guilt speaks from the mind, filled with fear and doubt, while our genuine hopes for ourselves and our children come from the heart.

And perhaps the real challenge of motherhood is learning to trust that inner truth.