Wine Guide and Guest Blogger Kelly Soucek gets real about life as a busy mom and how she found a new path with Traveling Vineyard that better fits her family needs.
Mom guilt.
Wow, oh wow are those some tough words to swallow. I am willing to bet any mom reading this right now just took a punch to the gut as those words were read. Am I doing enough? Am I working too much? Are they eating enough vegetables? Do I tell them I love them enough? Do I SHOW them I love them enough? But am I doing enough self-care? Am I drinking enough water? Am I getting any exercise at all? When was the last time I showered?
Creating a balanced life is probably one of the greatest mysteries of the world. I was at a point in my life where I knew I needed to make a change. I was in a job that wasn’t fulfilling. I cried every morning dropping off my kids to daycare (oh yeah – I was THAT girl!), drying my tears on my way into work convincing myself that I had no other options because we needed the money. I was always grouchy, and my mental health was, let’s just say, not good! I had two small boys under the age of 4, along with two older teenage boys, and I just felt my heart pulling me to stay at home with them, but I didn’t know how to make it happen.
Insert my wine business.
I had become a Wine Guide a couple of years prior for some fun and quite honestly, to get my favorite wines at a discount. I made maybe $200 a month as my fun money. So, I decided to sit down and do some math. At first, I’m not going to lie, it was daunting. I think I calculated I needed to hold 26 wine tastings a month to bring home the same amount of money I was making in my corporate America management job. But wait! I will no longer have a $900 daycare bill each month and several other expenses could be adjusted. I was able to come up with numbers I knew I could make work. I talked to my husband, (OK, more like CRIED!) and asked him to give it 6 months. If we were on the verge of bankruptcy after 6 months, I’d find another job. That was 5 years ago. Sure, stay at home mom life is WAY harder than I EVER imagined, but getting out of the house for a few hours 4 or 5 times a month to go to a wine tasting definitely helps!
Don’t get me wrong, I still have Mom Guilt. I don’t think that truly ever goes away. At least now I know my purpose – to show my kids that it’s never to late to change your story, while teaching people they deserve to sit down and relax with a great glass of wine.
Could the Wine Guide Life be for you, too? Click here and speak with a current Wine Guide about the opportunity and get started today!