The Insane Pursuit of Productivity

I'm currently on maternity leave and have taken it to begin 3 months before our little boy is born. Here in the UK, the Royal College of Obstetricians had recommended that pregnant healthcare workers stop seeing patients face-to-face at 28 weeks to minimise the risks of a pre-term birth and issues for the mother (due to covid-19). As I can't really work from home, this has meant me taking a 3-month break before bubs comes along. 

Prior to starting this time off I was really concerned that I wouldn't have enough to keep me occupied. I'd looked into ideas as to how to most productively manage my time, some of which included starting a side hustle, becoming a freelancer etc. Essentially, I felt compelled to join the hordes of productivity pirates and crazed passive income side-hustlers who claim that every moment of our lives needs optimisation for us to live a full life and achieve financial independence. Even downtime needs to be diarised and calendars blocked for everything f

rom self-care basics like showering and stretching to the more usual, dinner bookings (now that lockdown restrictions have somewhat eased). 

The reality however, since starting maternity leave has been very different. I LOVE NOT WORKING! In fact, why the hell was I (and am I still sometimes) wasting time looking at freelancing opportunities to earn extra money or learn a new translatable skill when I have plenty of money and time to just enjoy being here?? Honestly, it's like we've all gone mad. Whether it's for the pursuit of "freedom" as is often pushed as the driver for hustling down hard or whether it's just because we cannot slow down in this digital age of being driven to utter distraction, I don't need to partake in this madness. I already have the balance that supposedly comes from financial independence. I have been working part-time since 2014 and have slowly reduced this to working 3 days a week. It's perfect. More off days than on allow my brain and body time to decompress and relax and I have an abundance of emptiness in my diary that I can fill as I wish. I do not need to pursue more busyness to fill that when I've been working over the years to create the space. 

So, my manifesto for change is this: less is definitely more. Especially when it comes to work/career related pursuits. I do enough to bring in my part of our household income and want to spend my remaining time learning and enjoying being a great mother in addition to a great wife, daughter, sister, friend, citizen. Let's learn to prioritise balance and stability rather than the constant consumeristic desire for more productivity, more wealth, more everything. More, is not more (except on pizza toppings according to my husband, although he does also appreciate a classic margherita too).