From the November 2011 Issue of Working Mother

I’m writing this at the end of a very long week on a very late work night that still doesn’t want to end. Honestly, these are the moments when I know that work life balance is a myth—in fact, I don’t even like that phrase. For me, it’s instead about work life satisfaction.

Am I satisfied that I’m still at work? That the kids had to come to the office today because they had some days off from school and my husband covered the last one? That I also had to take them both to the dentist this morning? No, not really. Not at this moment. But once I get some sleep and have a moment to myself(!) I will be satisfied—satisfied with the choices I’ve made as a working mother, some purposefully and thoughtfully, some on the fly and quite imperfectly.

Choice is the theme of our new national study, What Moms Choose: The Working Mother Report. This powerful research, featured on page 20, finds that moms of all stripes are fairly confident in the choices they’ve made; however, we remain our own biggest critics and often feel like we aren’t spending enough time with our families and ourselves. And here’s the amazing thing: Stay-at-home moms feel the same way!

Truth is, the grass really isn’t all that greener on either side. Working moms worry about the time they spend with their children, while stay-at-home moms worry about not contributing to their family finances. And for some reason, we all think the house isn’t clean enough, and that we’re not taking care of ourselves.

Every day we make choices that impact ourselves, our jobs, our families. So let’s choose to give ourselves a break and let go of the useless sense of feeling judged. The holiday season is fast approaching, and we all know that’s stressful enough.