There Aren't Enough Hours to Be Everything to Everyone

My kids told me they hate me last week. (Ouch!)

A client told me I was taking too long to respond.

Both happened during the same stretch.

Winter break was two weeks of trying to be a full-time mom and a full-time attorney at the same time.

Clients still expect responses. Cases still need to be filed. Deadlines don't care about school calendars.

I tried to be everything for everyone.

I tried to get back to all the emails I was supposed to answer. I tried to be present with my kids. I was calling FedEx locations from my hotel in New York trying to figure out how to print and file cases from outside my home office. Can you guys print this for me? Can you get it done today?

It was a lot of figuring things out on the fly.

And still, my kids were yelling at me. "You're always working. You're never with us."

And still, clients were frustrated. "You haven't responded in 12 hours"

Both were right. I wasn't fully there for either.

Here's the thing I'm learning, and I'm still very much in the middle of learning it: you can't be 100% on everything. The math just doesn't work. There aren't enough hours.

So you make choices. Some days work wins. Some days family wins. Most days, honestly, both feel a little shortchanged.

Last week the kids finally went back to school. Working parents are breathing a sigh of relief. We can get back to our routines.

I don't have this figured out. I'm still working on finding strategies that let me move forward on both fronts without burning out completely.

But I'm learning to give myself grace when I fall short. Because falling short somewhere is inevitable when you're building something and raising young kids at the same time.

You do the best you can in the moment you're in. And then you try again tomorrow.