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Mid way through writing a blog article, creativity pouring from me, in full flow…wait for it. “Mum, can you wipe my bum”. Flow paused. 

 

This may be a familiar occurrence in your household too. 

 

How do we navigate the blend of these two seemingly new worlds? Being in pursuit of creating a business, building something of our own, something to pour our creativity into, a venture that allows us to tap into ALL of our facets, whilst raising children. 

 

I’m not sure I will ever fully understand how these two worlds combine smoothly and seamlessly and maybe that’s the point. Maybe this is a new generation of creation. An ushering in of understanding of what it truly means to be in flow. 

 

Because I often find myself asking whether the act of being in flow should have restrictions. Should there be requirements that have to be met in order to achieve flow. Maybe there does but not in the way we are perceiving this. 

 

I’m talking about physical requirements that we allow ourselves to believe have to be in place before we can accomplish anything. The time, space and environment have to be exact otherwise creation cannot occur. 

 

But the further I go on this journey of being a mumpreneur, the more I question whether this is in fact just another belief that holds us back from truly allowing ourselves to merge these two worlds. 

 

Do we need to have a quiet room, a tidy room, our kids fully taken care of, either in childcare or safely kept away from our creativity bubble by our partners so we can ‘create’, so we can ‘work’? 

 

Now I’m not going to deny that these conditions make creation easier, predictable even but are we missing a trick in believing they are the ONLY conditions where creation of our business can take place? 

 

One Saturday morning, I was forced to question the basis of this belief system. The week prior I had put aside little time for working on my business, for writing and generally having space to create anything. All my efforts went into cleaning the house, ferrying children to and from school, playdates and the park. This plus a string of much needed early nights, meant the overwhelming desire to create was being to bubble over. 

 

Denying this desire because I couldn’t make those specific conditions come together would usually have caused serious crankiness with myself and everyone else I came into contact with. 

 

Trying to avoid my entire Saturday (and probably everyone else’s) turning into a miserable affair, I jumped in the shower, in an attempt to clear my brewing bad mood. 

 

The shower is my sanctuary, a place where all inspiration, ideas and words of profound wisdom just seem to naturally come to me. Honestly, I’m still trying to work on a way to bring a laptop or some form of recording device into the bathroom so I can utilise what comes through in my long shower sessions. Maybe a later invention and tip to share with you at a later date. 

 

But as I allowed the thoughts and ideas to weave their way through my mind. I question came like a lightning bolt into my head. Why can’t you just create? 

 

And for once, in that moment, I struggled to find a logically or justifiable answer as to why I couldn’t just create. 

 

So I acted on the inspiration. I got out of the shower, grabbed my laptop, plonked myself on my bed and began writing. My eldest was out with her Dad at Gymnastics lessons and my youngest was happily playing in her bedroom, next door to where I was. 

 

What if I have to stop, I thought. What if my flow is ruined by another bum cleaning request or a multitude of snack requests? 

 

The answer was simple. I pause. 

 

And then I realised. I am the creator of my reality. I am the only person who decides when my flow stops. And what I realised was that my belief in needing to have specific conditions was causing me to believe my flow could only occur when those conditions were present. 

 

But what if I changed that belief slightly. What if instead I believed that I could agree, those conditions were my preferred conditions for creating but they weren’t the only conditions that allowed me to create. 

 

What if I took a step towards further empowerment and formed a belief that the real conditions I need for creation and flow to occur is an internal mindset. A mindset that knows I am a creator. I am a Writer, Entrepreneur, Coach, Mum, House Cleaner and so many other hats. Hats which I don with pride and confidence. Hats which I know so well that I can seamlessly move between. 

A mindset that is aligned with who I really am. A creator at my core. Surely that is the only condition that really must be present in order to create and flow? 

 

And as I sat down and proceeded to pour forth my thoughts into a blog post article, my youngest daughter did come into the room. She was curious about what mummy was doing. She wanted to be a part of what I was doing. So my Mum had slipped itself on and I snuggled her into the bed next to me. She watched me for a while, then asked if she could play on her tablet whilst I wrote. I agreed and together we snuggled up under the duvet both enjoying our own activities. 

 

I wrote an entire article whilst I heard the sounds coming from her tablet, something which would normally drive me crazy with distraction. Not this time, because I believed that, despite the conditions, I was able to create. And the words flowed forth like they would have if I’d have been sat in that quiet, undisturbed room. 

 

Now I do recognise that things may not have gone so smoothly, I may have had to assist my daughter, the Mum hat may have had to have been worn. But if it had, then I simply wouldn’t allow myself to believe that I couldn’t easily slip back into Josephine the Entrepreneur, the Writer once again. 

 

And as I sat to reflect on my new work experience, I realised that I had been missing something incredibly vital on this mumentrepreneurial journey. To share this journey with my children. How are they ever going to understand the real motivation behind creating a business – to create a life that I desire, that I love and to do something that I just live and breathe and ultimately don’t want to retire from. If they don’t see me doing it. 

 

If I am just holed up in a room by myself how do my girls see what I do? How do they become curious about this big part of my life that brings me immense joy, that conjures a different person to the surface? 

 

The simple answer. They don’t. Unless we invite them into this new world we are creating. 

 

Does this mean I will always create something on the fly, or that my kids will always make this journey an easy one to navigate – No. 

 

Does it mean I will forgo holing myself up in my office to create – No. 

 

Does it mean that I will move forward with the aim to strike a balance, to release limitations that offer me more opportunities to create and to invite my girls into this world with me – Yes. 

 

If we are to move generations forward then we have to start acting differently. 

We have to be the catalyst for change. 

 

We get to decide what work and business looks like. How this fits in our family and how it merges with it. 

 

We get to decide what image of working we decide to portray to our children. I am even starting to lean towards dropping the word work, simply because for so many years it’s held such different energy behind those four letters that frankly I don’t want my business to embody. 

 

Instead of telling my kids I’m going to work, I tell them what I am actually going to do. I am going to write today, build a website today, film a video, coach a client, chat to like minded people ect. Because these are activities I choose to do in my life because I enjoy them. I am fulfilled by them, energised by them. I do not see them as ‘work’ , rather enjoyable hobbies that make me money. 

 

Whichever way you decide to look at your business. I ask you to think about where you are placing unnecessary restrictions on your capability to blend business and motherhood. 

 

Where are you allowing external physical conditions to dictate whether you are able to get into your flow and create what you desire to create? 

 

And how can you change those beliefs to ones which really do align with who you truly are and who you know you are deep down – a badass, loving, creative, hugely successful Mumentreprenuer. 

 

You can have it all Mumma. It just happens one belief at a time.