Gosh it can be lonely being a single mum, and not just a single mum, an entrepreneurial single mum! This may also apply to you mum’s who are not single!
We have so many ideas flowing around in our heads and not just ideas on how to improve and make our businesses the best we can, but also ideas on how we can be the best Mum we can be, how we can manage our time so that we are spending quality time with our children but also getting s**t done!!
But who to share it with? Who to bounce ideas off of? Definitely not my 14-year-old teenage son that’s for sure, the most I get out of him these days when I ask him “how was school?” to which he replies, “boring”. I could just imagine his response if I were to ask him, “Son, what do you think of me doing a workshop on tips for dealing with loneliness?”, he would say “Will it be on social media because if it is no as my friends might see” Teenagers these days!!
I find it can be a vicious circle sometimes, we can be working on something and then our child needs us (why do they always do this when we are busy doing something else?) and then worry that they are on their own and feeling lonely because we are not giving them the attention. But at the same time we don’t have anyone to help us in that moment or share our thoughts with as we feel they may not understand, leaving us also feeling guilty and lonely!
This is why connection is so so so important!! But not just any old connection, like-minded, meaningful connections. Mum groups like The Mumpreneur Diaries Community, networking with your local community and online, investing in a coach, joining a mastermind, there are so many ways I can name!
However, it is also equally important that we have connections outside of work and business. Think, what do you like doing? What do you enjoy? Sometimes we get caught up with being the best mum we can be and the best business woman we can be, we forget that we on a personal level have needs.
We have to feed all parts of us spiritually, emotionally and physically.
You can feel at peace with yourself when all parts of you are being fed; when not only your material side, your success side is being nurtured, but it is also taking place on a personal level, in your personal life, your psychological life, or in your spiritual life. That’s when the loneliness turns into a union, where you have different voices inside of you that all reconnect with each other.
Without the feeling that you matter and that you’re significant, all your daily activities cannot supply you with feeling a part of a bigger picture, part of contributing something that no one else can except you. This sense of significance is the single greatest force that battles true, existential loneliness.
When those lonely feelings come over us, there is a powerful question you can ask yourself… What is it that I need right now?
If you write this out you would be so surprised at what the response may be. Writing things out or journaling is a powerful tool and has scientific studies to back this up, check it out! More about journalling
Just to add!! One thing that I find really helps me with my loneliness is volunteering! It’s separate from work and Mum life, you are giving back but also hugely appreciated by others and part of a team!
