“What in the world is a Stay at Home Bride?”
I became a stay-at-home mom before I was even a mom…and while planning my wedding.
My friends jokingly dubbed me a “stay at home bride.” But that’s exactly what I was: engaged, pregnant, and jobless – waiting and planning for two huge, life-changing events at once, yet feeling more aimless than ever.
It was heartbreaking to leave my just-beginning career in retail management because of pregnancy complications, move halfway across the country with my fiance (with whom I’d never lived before), and leave behind the workforce for years of brand-new territory in motherhood, wifehood, and…
…well, that was the thing. I had no idea how to end that sentence. And what?
Being a wife and mother were big goals of mine, but not my only goals. I wanted a career, too – and it suddenly seemed like I would never get one.
We had our first child, and I struggled to adjust to life as a young mom…while planning a wedding remotely, hours away in our hometown.
In the chaos of wedding planning, I realized something shocking: I was enjoying myself again. While I loved being a mom, a piece was missing. I didn’t feel like myself.
And while I hated wedding planning (or most of it, anyway), doing it made me feel a little more like myself. The structure and goals gave me that “workforce” feeling again: a sense of accomplishment and identity outside mother-and-wife life.
Returning to the traditional workforce, though, wasn’t an option.
I had always loved writing, and still pictured myself as a writer when I thought of my dream job. And I knew I could do it from home, scheduling around my family’s needs.
I started freelancing, and eventually added another career to the mix: indie author. And now, to help guide other moms- and brides-to-be (or both!) in starting their own self-employed careers, I also run the Stay at Home Bride.
Yep: three careers. To think that just a few years ago, I was convinced I couldn’t even have one!
Working from home has given me many things: flexibility, income, knowledge…but more importantly, it’s made me feel like “me” again.
And I want every single mom out there to have that same feeling.
