Finding your way (again) after having a baby

Just a few more days to tick off on the calendar (ours, of course) before heading back to work, and suddenly we want to drop everything. Stop settling the youngest into nursery and sending the older ones to the holiday club on Wednesdays, so we can carry on spending every hour of every day with them.

You’ve experienced it too: becoming a parent is a big (no, enormous) upheaval that has a way of putting things in perspective. A baby’s arrival often helps us focus on what matters most – and makes it clear what we no longer want. Returning to work after maternity or parental leave is a big step for the whole family, with all the planning and mental load it brings. But it can also make us wonder how we want to spend our days.

If we rewound a few years – or decades, who would we find in our place? What did that child dream of being when they grew up?

It’s true that little Flo already dreamed of being an illustrator before becoming our favourite graphic designer ;) But for most of us, perhaps our dream job has changed?

Then again, perhaps that’s sometimes for the best: Charlotte, the founder of Mezamé, wanted to become a criminal profiler. That was a close one!

So, to make sense of it all, why not ask a professional for advice?

In France, many of us can book a free appointment with a career development adviser (CEP) – though very few of us know it! It’s a chance to take stock and ask ourselves the right questions.

Emmanuelle Germain, a career assessment consultant, tells us: “One of the questions I ask in an initial meeting is: ‘If I gave you a magic wand and you could do your dream job, what would you do?’ Almost everyone considering an assessment has no idea how to answer. Yet the answer is essential, because once you have a goal, it’s much easier to find the right path to it,” Emmanuelle continues.

Shall we give it a go together? Emmanuelle suggests we try to answer that question. It might give us some clues about how to enjoy our time at work more, away from our mat and the kids!

> Would I feel better doing the same job somewhere else, or in a different way? 

If the answer is yes, our doubts are about the setting. So how do we make a change? We can look at improving our working conditions, our environment, the management or the company, while continuing to build on our years of experience.

If the answer is no, this might be the perfect time to seek out our “zone of genius”. As Gay Hendricks explains in his book The Big Leap, it’s where our unique talents, passions and strengths come together. That’s when professional guidance can really help.

In the meantime, let’s give ourselves permission to dream and remember what excited us as children. Let’s make the most of every moment with our little ones and, whenever doubt creeps in, reach for Emmanuelle’s magic wand.

Right now... what would you do?