​​I can remember a time when I was all too aware of the growing 'gap' in my resume. The gap between when my last job ended and the present. The gap that was widening by the day.

Let me back up. A few months into landing my dream job at a major art museum in Los Angeles, I found out I was pregnant. Hardly anyone at the museum had kids, and I knew of exactly zero co-workers who were raising babies. It was not a family-friendly environment, to say the least. In part because I couldn't see a way to make all the pieces work, and in part because that dream job started to become less and less fulfilling, I decided to quit once our first son was born.

I was thrilled by the opportunity to embrace full-time motherhood, but the unknown-ness of how long it would last (and its impact on my future career) made me anxious. I used to measure my professional worth by the number of curators I supported, the size of the exhibition budgets I tracked, and the fame of the artists we rubbed shoulders with. Now, with my days full of diapers threatening to overflow the pail, sleep that came in 1-3 hour spurts, and breastmilk everywhere...I just didn't feel that important.

Maybe you can relate. Mama, I want you to know today: You are more than your resume.

Am I proud of my clients' professional accomplishments? Heck yeah.

But for the mom who is working a job that doesn't line up with her passions . . .
For the mom who is in between work and doesn't have the faintest clue what she'll do next . . .
For the mom who feels invisible to society without a job title . . .

You are loved.
You are enough.
You are more than your job accomplishments.

Remember what it was like when your child was first born? The way you cherished their smell, their grunts, their tiny fingernails? You loved them just for BEING. They didn't have to do a single thing to impress you. And you, too, are loved just for BEING.

Praying for you to know this today,
Charissa
​

​Do you go with the flow, so much so that your hopes get lost in the mix?

A client recently told me:

​Get it!

As a self care coach, a lot of my job is to make space for my clients to slow down and think through what it is they want. To, as my client put it, turn their ideas into goals by exercising their goal-making muscles! Here are some examples of ideas that my clients have turned into goals:

The goals you see above are specific, measurable, and important to the women who made them. If you have an idea you'd like to turn into a goal, here are some questions to consider asking:

What, specifically, do I want?
Where am I in this area currently?
What are all the possible ways I could get to where I want to be?
What will I commit to to reach my goal?