I had a choice to make.
Writing about that choice here helped tremendously. All of your comments helped me feel at peace with my decision, and made me feel confident that it was the right decision.
One of the comments on that post that stood out, and which makes total sense is the following from Carly:
"One thing I've learned about decisions is to make them based on values, not current circumstances. Then you'll always make the "right" one!"Which is so completely true. Duh.
I think that, all too often, most of us forget about our core values when we have a choice to make. We make decisions about what we want right now - which is crazy when you think about it. (To be honest, I think that most of us don't sit back and figure out what our core values are in the first place.)
So. Sometime in the last decade, I decided that my family will always be more important than work. Even though I love working and I do have professional goals, career ambition does not come before my family. Professional development can wait. (My one-year-old will never wait.)
I know that work contributes to my mental health and my sense of self (which in turn benefits my family), but I am nowhere near being close to not enjoying my work. I'm in a good place right now... and for the foreseeable future. This is a good thing.
So. I feel eerily peaceful about where I am professionally. I think Frances injected me with a "calm" virus or somesuch thing... because I have never been this level-headed before. Weird.
(What are your core values? How do you make the big decisions? Do you initially lose as much hair as I do when you're wrestling with these dilemmas? Gah.)
