688: Who Will I Be with a Year Off? Day 1 of Maternity Leave
March 20, 2021
Today is my first day on maternity leave. I actually get a year off to have my baby and I will get financial support from the Canadian government during that time. To me this is remarkable. I come from a country that does not have such a social support system and really the only thing ensured is your employer can't fire you if you take up to 6 weeks off. But you get no pay or other support. It's tragic really.
And here I find myself in Canada being given a whole year to birth and be with my baby. It's not a perfect system of course... I worked in a position that provided me enough income that the financial support I will get on maternity leave will not cripple me financially and is a basic income that I can live on. If I made any less I don't know if I could take the whole year off.
I want to document and share this process - whether it be in my vlog or blogs - I'm seeing this new stage of maternity leave/motherhood as quite an opportunity and I want to make the most of it. The only way I really do know how to make the most of it is by reflecting and sharing myself and my process within it.
So that's what I'm doing.
I am not committing myself to daily writing/publishing here but I am committing myself to consistently writing/publishing here as well as consistently sharing my vlogs so that I can, within this space, reflect and forgive and get to know and understand and give direction to myself and this new life I am entering.
Maternity leave does feel a bit like walking into an equal money system or a basic income where my time is now my own and I have the financial resources to support myself where I don't "have" to work but rather I can decide what work would be best for me to do... where are my skills most useful, where is my time served well? Obviously, I will be bringing a baby into this world and nurturing him and supporting him to grow and develop but I do not see that as a reason I must compromise my own growth and development. Clearly, my process with becoming a mother is a process and journey of growth and development of and as itself.
I do have an opportunity here to really get to know who I would be in a world where we are not forced to work to make money to survive but rather we have a real choice to decide what we want to do; how we'd like to spend our days. I'm committed to fully experiencing and expressing myself within this opportunity I now have. Granted, at this stage, it is only a year so let's make it the year's experiment.
I have not not worked since I was 15 years old. The longest time I took off in these last 20 years was 2 months when I went to South Africa ironically and learned from an environment that was similar to an equal money system where my food and boarding were taken care of and I lived and worked with others in a community setting that was designed to give one the time and space to really get to know oneself.
Here, almost 11 years later, I have another opportunity to be in such a space and I'm diving in and doing what I can to make the most of it and I will share myself, to share and to hold myself accountable, to who I am and what I'm busy with during this time.
Yes, I will be having a baby soon but that baby will greatly benefit from me ensuring I am directing myself within my utmost every single day and to me... this (writing and sharing) is part of it.
To reflect is to slow down and to see and to understand and to clear away the debris and to clearly make a way to direct myself and my life. This is who I want to be as a mother - reflective, slowing down, understanding. clear and directive. This is the example I want my child to have of who I am.
So here's to the next year of maternity leave... let's see what we can create :)
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