You have been at home with your family for the last three months.  You are so luck to have gotten that time (although in France they get much more but it is not healthy to be jealous of their maternity leave or their macarroons).  In those three months, you have gotten to know your daughter, adjusted to a life that doesn’t stop as a mother of two.  You kept your house pretty clean, your meals pretty healthy, and your marriage still in tact.  Did you work out every day like you said you were going to.  No.  Did you get all the projects done that you said you were going to get done.  No.  But you did enjoy life with your family.  You were careful with yourself and your family.  Remember this next week when you are back to work.

On Monday, your two worlds will once again collide.  You will be back at work now as a mother to two.  The anxiety that you are feeling right now will go away.  Remember?  The feeling of needing to do it all will soon fade away into a routine and you being reminded of your limits.  It will take awhile and you will fail some days, but it will be OK.  Your kids won’t remember this time.  Your husband will and your friends will.  Lean on them.  Don’t go back into your hole and feel like it is impossible because it isn’t.

You have been here before.  You know what to expect.  You are once again a new person.  This is once again a fresh start for how you organize your life and your priorities.  You are a mother of two and your limits have to be harder and faster than they were before.  You have to have those limits or the world will rise up to take everything you have left away from your family and most important…yourself.

It is going to be ok.  You are going to be ok.  F*ck Leaning In…just stay on your feet.