08/10/2026
10 years ago today… ❤️
This photo was taken on the day I returned to teaching after my last maternity leave with my second baby.
I still think returning to work after maternity leave is one of the hardest challenges we don’t really talk about enough.
You’re often stepping back into a space that has stayed the same, while your whole world has completely changed.
The same workplace, the same routines, the same expectations… But you’re not the same person who left.
Your priorities have shifted, your heart is somewhere else and you’re trying to work out how to juggle it all. The guilt of leaving your little ones, the pressure to be good at your job, the exhaustion and that constant feeling that you’re not giving enough to either.
And the hardest part? Everyone else just carries on. You’re expected to pick up where you left off, even though so much of who you are has changed.
Looking back at this photo 10 years later, I wish I could tell this version of myself to stop being so hard on herself. That it’s okay to not have it all figured out. That some days you’ll feel like you’re doing a great job and other days you’ll feel like you’re getting everything wrong.
Here is my message to any other Mums who this resonates with… Be gentle with the past versions of yourself. Forgive yourself for the things that only time and experience could ever teach you…
Because looking back, I wasn’t getting it all wrong. I was just learning how to be many different roles - a partner, a daughter, a mum of two, a teacher and still find a little bit of myself in between. What advice would you give other Mums?
And wow… those 10 years have gone quickly… (brown hair Millie! 😬😂)
