The Psychological Paradox Of The Working Mom

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"Adoi, it's only Wednesday?" I muttered to myself this morning, a sentiment I'm sure many of you can relate to. The two-day weekend felt like a blink-and-you'll-miss-it affair, even though we didn't do anything extraordinary.

It was a classic weekend-in-the-life-of-a-mom. Saturday started with a heavenly session with my "kakak urut" – a much-needed reset button for my tired muscles. The rest of the day was a blur of tidying up, cooking, and the never-ending cycle of laundry. We ended our night with the calming chaos of K-Pop Demon Hunter on repeat for the millionth time. My boys love it, so I guess I do too, by association.

Sunday, we decided to get out of the house. We drove all the way to Desaru, not for a beach holiday, but for... errands. Yes, you heard that right. And that's the paradox, isn't it? Our weekends are meant to be a break from the workweek, but for many of us, they simply become a different kind of grind—a frantic effort to catch up on everything we couldn't do from Monday to Friday.

I'm incredibly grateful for my current life. It's smooth, steady, and drama-free. The job is a "no-brainer" with a good salary and a short commute (and no-travelling require), which is a blessing in itself. The family is good, the kids are their usual chaotic selves, and life is, for the most part, stable.

But every now and then, a dangerous thought creeps in. "Wouldn't it be amazing to just stay home?" I daydream about days filled with cooking, baking, and just lazy-ing around, with nothing but quality time with my boys on the agenda. Then reality checks in. I'm no heiress with a trust fund (and let's be real, a sugar daddy is strictly for my imagination 😝). The commitments are real, and the money needs to keep rolling in.

What I really need isn't to quit, but to just... take a long break. A proper, honest-to-goodness cuti! But my job, doesn't really allow for that. I'm the kind of person who has to be there, even when everyone else is off. Working from home isn't an option, either, because my job description is basically "Be where the boss is". So, a long, leisurely break remains a beautiful dream for now.

This isn't about being ungrateful for my job; it's a deep-seated craving for a different kind of mental fulfillment. It’s the desire to engage with the world in a way that feels more personally meaningful and less about routine. It's a trade-off we all make, trading time for stability. But a girl can dream, right? Maybe one day, I'll figure out a way to break free from this cycle and find a weekend that is truly a weekend—a time for rest, not just recovery.

But hey, a girl can dream, right? Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find a way to make this Wednesday feel a little less like a Monday.

P/S: There's gotta be more to life.

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