As I wind down on another Sunday evening after yet again a busy weekend, I often wonder how much I can juggle or manage in any given day, week, or even a month. Sunday nights for me mean getting all laundry done, checking the multiple calendars for the week to see where everyone in my family needs to be for the week, what our grocery needs are, put together my to-do lists and if I’m lucky, have time to read the Sunday paper.

In my mind I truly believe I’m a skilled ringmaster yet most days I feel like a circus clown juggling balls. I’m not saying that I’m any busier than any of you reading this, I’m simply saying that I hear you and I understand. Multitasking is tricky and finding a balance in life with a busy schedule is even more difficult. One ball drops and we feel like a failure. Say no to the PTO and we are less adequate than the other mom who says yes, mess up a kid’s schedule, forget to run payroll and you’re incompetent. All of these scenarios are common, ones I’ve made and frankly make me human.

My roles consist of many on any given day of the week (mother of two, wife, fitness studio co-owner, dog owner, sister, friend, aunt, neighbor, soccer team manager, swim parent and food delivery person).

However, seven years ago my life was very different.

Yes, I was still a mother of two, wife, daughter, and friend but I was also a public school teacher. I still managed volunteering in classrooms, baking treats for girl scouts, attending field trips, managing a soccer team and helping my husband with the chores in our home. Things changed when while I was teaching, I was handed a schedule that my principal knew I couldn’t teach. It conflicted with my girls’ schedule and was not manageable for us. I was forced to make the hardest decision I ever made.

I left teaching.

I loved teaching and still do! I enjoyed what teaching provided me; learning from high school kids, having adult friendships and a successful career. At first leaving my job (in my mind) meant more free time to organize, more time to help in classrooms, the ability to make more home cooked meals and frankly be less stressed. In reality leaving my job meant I was home all of the time which in turn made me feel that I had to pick up the slack as justification for a lack of a paycheck. Cleaning service canceled, unlimited cable reduced to a minimum (who needed all those channels anyway), extra volunteering in classrooms to validate my “momness” and all the shopping, cooking, laundry now became “my job.”

While my husband agreed and supported my decision to leave teaching I was often asked,“what did you do all day?” This became a phrase I hated and despised. It left me feeling useless, not important, not validated and frankly lost.

Fast forward to now, a “few” pity parties, some soul searching, a handful of small sacrifices along the way, I'm now a successful small business owner of a fitness studio in my hometown. It's here my passion for teaching continues. I'm surrounded daily by amazing women who are always working their hardest and have fun doing it. This may have added to my crazy circus, 1 or more balls in the air, but it's worth the additional crazy. While the business side is challenging, I love my job!

Element 22 has given me a second family, a fairly flexible schedule, a business partner who is also my friend and the freedom to continue to do what I was born to do and that is to teach.

So each day I wake up, most times an hour before those in my house, to enjoy a cup of coffee, survey my day’s “to-do’s” gather my multiple balls to juggle and prepare for another day in the life of a ringmaster.

This is where you breath a sigh of relief that you are not the only person trying to be a ringmaster!