I had a 5 -hour journey; After a year, I stopped and pivoted my career

For me, the Pandemic COVID-19 gave me the unexpected advantage of starting my trip to parenting at home.

Working at home is not something I always wanted to do, but I was completely naive to think that I could take the journey requests in an office every day with a newborn baby.

When I had my daughter in March 2020, I planned to resume my trip from an hour and unidirectional to my office as a digital web editor for a national magazine at the end of my 12 -week leave.

However, it became clear very quickly that I had not taken into account the awakenings of the new new served with a side of exhaustion and days of illness for myself and my daughter.

With gratitude, I subjected myself to mother life that works at a distance

I edited and wrote in the comfort of my house, without having to worry about driving on the highway when I had barely repressed more than a few hours of sleep.

Over the years, remote work has become the optimal solution for me and my husband as working parents.

Since my husband’s hospital career generally does not offer remote work possibilities, I did most of the day care deposits, days of illness at home and everything else between the two.

And, it worked for a while – until I was swept away in a wave of media layoffs in 2023.

I thought I could find another completely distant media role, I was wrong

Almost all the media jobs I could find required at least a few days a week in the office.

I obtained a new role with a large national publisher – provided that I go to their offices in downtown Manhattan three days a week.

I had no other options – a decline compensation and the need for health insurance for my family meant that I had to take it.

I live in the Hudson valley, which meant that I navigate within 2 and a half hours in a sense.

My new journey has unbalanced everything

I would leave the house in the morning before the sun rises and my daughter was awake and saw her until 12 hours later, when she was about to bed.

My husband needed to cut a few days short for his work so that he could go to daycare on time. Sometimes he couldn’t, and we had to dismember to find someone to pick up our daughter at the last minute, because I would be stuck in a metro or a train.

I spent a year crossing the Hudson river to Metro-North station, getting on the train for an hour and a half in the Grand Central, taking the metro in the financial district, and walking at half a thousand towards my office two to three days a week-to sit at my office, write and modify, not talk to many people, and redo again for the return trip.

If you think it seems ridiculous, it is because it is

I do not need to be in a physical office to write and edit – and very often, I entered an office which was at best, half full and at worst, mainly rows of empty offices, which made me feel the four to five hours a day that I spent by train and not with my family was a waste.

What was the interest of a hybrid work schedule if people did not always arise? Why did I spend so much time traveling so that I could work at my office and barely talk to someone there?

Whether I sit next to someone at the office or worked at home, any communication was made on Slack. Zoom calls have also occurred, even in the office.

I knew I had to make a big change if I wanted to have this precious time with my daughter

I’m not talking about just asking for a new type of change of work. I mean a bigger pivot far from journalism, because I found nothing that was completely distant.

This pivot was difficult for me because I am very proud of my journalism career, but spending time with my daughter was more important.

So I applied for content marketing roles in remote companies. I’m going to be honest, most of the roles that I applied were not followed up, which was discouraging.

However, a fintech company tried my luck – one with a fully distant culture and adapted to the parents which means that I can drop my daughter and recover it at school.

I no longer need to choose between making the two-hour and a half trip to Manhattan and taking my daughter to an appointment with the doctor or having to rush to make collection plans for her.

The afternoons after school now include a race around the playground; A trip to the library to play games and choose new books; Or a special ice yogurt treat by a hot day.

My daughter is 5 years old and loving pre -k life – and I wouldn’t want to miss this time for the world.