>So pretend you started a company to occupy yourself in a creative and challenging way, not necessarily because you needed to bring money into your home. (Though, hey, the extra money is always great, right?) Let’s say you’ve worked extremely hard to build this company into something that provides other people with an income, and customers with products they love and seek out. Let’s say that the company is something you’re very proud of, and that it has been the reason for many wonderful opportunities over the past five years.

But let’s say that before this venture, you had decided to leave the workforce specifically to spend time raising your kids. That you wanted to be the one caring for them daily, taking them on trips, playing games, having fun, and teaching them everything you could before they go off to school.

And here’s the curveball: let’s say that this company you’ve built is now forcing you into a corner where you can’t live up to the expectations of it without hiring external help for the kids you wanted to care for by yourself. And let’s say even part-time care isn’t really giving you enough time to give the company the attention it needs… that it takes up more time than you ever dreamed, and that this wild success is both a blessing and a curse?

Gone are the days of midday swimming classes for the kids. Gone are the carefree day trips to the zoo, to play centres, to friends’ houses, the library. Gone.

What do you do when something that was supposed to be casual, part-time fun is now so “successful” that it really requires more than full-time hours? What happens when the whole purpose for your being in this position to begin with has been the very thing to lose your attention? What happens when you feel guilty for working so hard to be home with your family at a job that takes more time away from them?

What will I do?