I have a 10 month old DC, and going back to work in a little over a month. Me and DH and DC are moving to a new city for my work, which we are excited and nervous but mostly excited about.
However, people keep asking me how I am feeling about going back to work, and honestly, I'm kind of dreading it. I left it fairly late to start a family, will be 40 next year. I had lots of travel and adventures pre-baby, and re-trained for a new career about 10 years ago. I currently work in tech, well paid work that I quite enjoy and find intellectually stimulating but...
Honestly, I just feel like I couldn't give much of a crap about work any more. I love being a mum, I'm enjoying it much more than I thought I would. I have a good bunch of friends across the country, and don't feel lonely or isolated by not going to work. My DH and I have had our ups and downs over the last year, but we're still pretty good together and we have fun hanging out. We had a rough few years as a couple with family bereavement and then a late pregnancy loss before DC, and I am proud of how well we're still standing after some really tragic losses in our lives and around us.
My priorities now feel like: DC and immediate family, then our wider family, then friends, then my home (making it nice for DC and DH), then environmental and social issues... But honestly, work is WAY down the list for me.
I was definitely a girly swot at school, and I'm reasonably senior in my tech career now. But honestly, that stuff feels SO much less important to me now than family and home.
Is this normal? I just feel exhausted by having to be clever and high-achieving all the time, I want to focus that energy on my family now rather than career, but I feel people are quite shocked when I tell them I'd much rather be focussed on home and family at the moment.