On Career and Mommyhood: Introduction

My first year in college I was pre-med. During that year I decided that I preferred to work with people to prevent disease rather than treat it. I also didn’t like the idea of giving people shots (which my dad did as an allergist). So I set my heart on becoming a dietitian. During those next few years, some relatives and close friends suggested that I reconsider medicine as a career. I didn’t want to. My mother supported my decision saying that she didn’t like the idea of me having babies during my residency years and having them taken care of by a nanny/day care at such a young age.

It turns out, had I been interested in being a doctor, I would have COMPLETED residency prior to having children—if my life had followed its current timeline, where I got married at 30 and had my first kid at 32. The purpose of this post is not to go into whether or not I wish I was a doctor (spoiler alert: I don’t! But I do love that I have gotten to work with doctors in my role as a registered dietitian nutritionist!)

The point is, this: What is this WHOLE concept of considering how a career in a certain field will impact our family life? Do you even make that consideration at all? Some do, some don’t. I don’t want to judge. But in the following post, I discuss the idea of choosing a career in light of how it will mesh with raising a family.

One complication in this matter is that we are planning for something we do not yet have—a family. A FURTHER complication is that we cannot play G-d, and a person can plan their career around their future family and that family may never happen. We don’t hold the keys to our fate COMPLETELY. But we DO have some power to make choices and decisions that support our vision for what we want. And according to some—e.g. vision boards, prayer, affirmations—we really DO have A LOT of power in determining our future.

While acknowledging that we DO NOT have ALL the POWER, the following post comes from the perspective that we can indeed plan ahead, and G-d willing be blessed with what we are planning for—i.e. a family.