A Time to Work and a Time to Play
By: Maria Servold
It took me four tries to sit down and start writing this piece—not for lack of inspiration, but because I kept getting interrupted. While frustrating, this perfectly encapsulates what it has taken me years to learn: there are times and seasons for everything, including work.
Over the last 11 years, as long as I’ve been a mother, I have tried to balance work and home life in a way that give each its due. Spoiler alert: it’s impossible. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. That doesn’t mean, however, that we shouldn’t try to give our best in each area of our lives.
Looking back on the days when I worked without kids (both in my current job at Hillsdale and as a news reporter), it’s hard to imagine the freedom I had to work for seven or eight hours straight every day. What did I do with all that time?! Now, I work in smaller spurts throughout the day, teaching, holding office hours, writing, editing, and sending emails while also being “wife” and “Mom.” I hardly get an uninterrupted stretch of time longer than two hours to do anything, including sleep, especially during the parent-of-newborn phases.
I am frustrated, almost daily, with feeling like I can’t do anything completely or well enough because I am constantly pulled in several directions. In the midst of editing Collegian articles, I need to get dinner ready. In the middle of office hours, a babysitter may text with a question. In the middle of a Saturday that I would rather spend with my kids, I may need to take an hour and grade assignments.
While often difficult, this is the life of a working mom, and I’m happy to be able to do both. I knew when I was 16 years old that I wanted to be a journalist, but I also knew I wanted to be a mom. I’m grateful that my job at Hillsdale allows me to do both. I get to practice and teach journalism while also having a family and home life. Many friends I graduated with have to decide between a career and motherhood. It just isn’t sustainable to do both (financially or timewise) in many places in the country.
The key to “balancing” life as a working mother is to acknowledge that you’ll never get it exactly right. There’s no “life hack” or secret planning strategy that will allow you to get all the things done in all the parts of your life at the right time without struggle or regret. Simply accepting that you can’t do everything all the time is massively freeing. For instance, in the weeks following the birth of a child, I set a very simple goal for myself: get one thing done each day. That one thing could be replying to an important email or folding a basket of laundry or taking a shower. Set goals you can achieve and everything feels easier.
Additionally, accept that there are seasons of life This means that the difficulty you’re experiencing now will not last forever. The sleepless toddler will eventually sleep. The big project you’re working on will eventually get done. The date you desperately need with your spouse will come. Just as we are amazed anew by each spring, summer, fall, and winter as it arrives, we should be surprised and grateful when difficult times are replaced by gentler, happier ones.
When I was a student at Hillsdale more than 15 years ago, I could not have imagined how wonderful my life would be in 2025. If you had told me I’d be a working mom trying daily to balance the needs of my husband, my four children, my job, my freelance work, a nonprofit organization I lead, and work as a catechist at my church, I’m not sure how I would have responded.
But here I am: grateful, as the seasons continue to change.
Maria Servold ‘10
Maria is the Assistant Director of the Dow Journalism Program and adviser to the college’s student publications. She is also the president of the Early Pregnancy Loss Association. In addition to her work, she has been married for 15 years to her husband and together they have four kids, aged 11 to 1.5. Maria is also also a freelance writer and editor and a catechist of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at St. Anthony of Padua. She loves to read, cross-stich, and embroider in her “free time.”
