Vote of Thanks

The pandemic affected the lives of working moms differently depending on their jobs and age groups of the kids. In the beginning of the pandemic, it was a struggle to sustain consistency at work during postpartum, with a breastfeeding baby, a toddler and a large family. The following are my reflections of gratitude for my support system that helped me get through this.

My frontline support is my husband who stands by me, helps with our kids, and house chores and gives me emotional strength. It's wonderful to work together with loved ones, just sitting together and working with him in our own space brings back memories of studying for assignments back in college. There is no fight for equality in love since we always put the other person before us. Practically, there were and will be phases in our life when I contributed more, and it is absolutely the same with him. There could be days he is busy with work only or days he misses work to take care of a sick kid. I believe getting through such inequalities gracefully for greater good, instead of putting up an unreasonable fight, is love (and understanding). Oftentimes love blurs boundaries and clouds individuality, we did not let that happen to us. Although we work under the same roof, and he's a brilliant architect and one of the youngest in a top level leadership role, I take no pride or credit for his accomplishments. Similarly, I take complete ownership of my work status. I am gratified, I sought no unprofessional favors and offered none. 

During pandemic everyone is going through something. Despite going through a lot, there are people who show patience, kindness and empathy. For that, and much more, I’m ever grateful to my sisters, Rajani, Priyanka, Sravani. 

I find it incredible how friendship works wonders despite the dissimilarities, separation of distance and barriers. There were times when a call, a chat message, or even an emoji from my friends, Hasheera, Soumya, Sravanthi, Swathi, Shilpa, Varsha, John, Jenn, Venni, Deepthi, (in the order of distance of separation!) brightened my day. There is not necessarily reasoning, dramatic prequels, or backstory for friendships. Although we were miles apart, they have always inspired me to remain motivated positively.

It is very difficult to make a lot of new friends after a certain phase in life, but we seem to have made the impossible possible by making a big group of girl friends. All credits to our fearless leader, Sri! :) We had so many fun times together! Akshaya, Deepthi, Jaya, Richa, Sri, Venni! Cheers to many more!

As my kids started speaking words, I started communicating my love, pain, happiness, annoyance and stress, with them. Because of high respect for friendship, I try to carry its spirit of openness and trust into any relationship. Honestly, there was a time I was extremely stressed juggling kids, family and work. Things may not be drastically different now, however, I feel a lot better, since I share a different kind of bond with both my kids (my daughter 5.5 and my son almost 3), and we are a supreme team now.

Over the pandemic, I tried several calming mechanisms, like books, podcasts, courses like inner engineering, gym, prayer and music. The book, “Think like a monk”, and the podcasts of Jay Shetty moved me deeply. The book made me realize the values true to my identity, let me be more self aware of the negativity in and around me, and helped me emphasize more on a healthy routine like a 15 minute daily meditation and 30 minute daily physical activity for the sake of mental clarity and physical strength.

I have written and shared the above with the purpose of pure gratitude. The most important cord that holds any support system together is self-strength, therefore, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”.

 Thanks a lot for reading! 

 May the force be YOU!