Thoughts About Working.

Most of my married life I have worked outside of the home. Doug and I both worked full time when we were first married. I worked at the DQ and most of my shifts were the same as Doug's so were got to spend a lot of time together. I worked up until three before Anson was born and then I got to go on maternity leave for a year. A month after my maternity leave was done, Cameron was born so I didn't go back to work. When Cameron was 6 months old I went back to work evenings and weekends at the DQ. It was great because we never had to get a sitter and Doug was able to bond with his two little munchkins. The only down side was that Doug and I didn't get to spend too much time together that way. I stayed working part time until two weeks before Brandon was born and I got to go on another year of payed maternity leave. A month after Brandon's first birthday I went back to work at a boat rental/restaurant. I gave up two summers/fall working there. After that stint I was sick and tired of working evenings and weekends so I started applying for jobs at different banks. I figured that if I would be working outside of the home that it might as well be something that I would enjoy and not have to work anymore evenings and weekends. I got a job at a bank back in September. For the most part the job is going well except that I'm working way more than I want to. I started to get really stressed and frustrated. I started to think about what I wanted to spend more time doing, and it included things like; doing crafts with Brandon, volunteering at the boys school/and going to school functions, being available to help friends/family in need, being able to keep a cleaner more organized house and having the time to plan and cook nutritious meals for the family. After assessing what I really wanted to be doing, I wondered if work would still fit into the picture. For those of you who know me really well know I get restless quite easily, and if I don't get out of the house I get discouraged and unmotivated, so I feel like I still need something, I'm just hoping to cut back my hours at the bank to 7hrs a week and then spend more time doing the things that are really important.