“Attempting to balance work and life is like using a bandage to fix a serious wound. Rip off the Balance Bandage and open your mind to a new way of living and working.” –TRINA CELESTE
In 2019, I co-founded a non-profit for women, specifically mothers, transitioning from their current careers or re-entering the workforce. Over the last few years, these colleagues and recruits have become alumni of a growing community known as Tech-Moms, women eager for change in their lives, who are creating more fulfilled versions of themselves through personal and career development.
They are seeking new, flexible, and more harmonious careers that accept their roles as mothers. I join at the helm of each class launch to show recruits how to find harmony between all areas in their life – but I’m quick to point out this doesn’t come through “balancing.” My thirty-year career in technology “sparked” when I fell in love with programming. I took my first Pascal programming class in 1994 and immediately switched my degree from architectural engineering to computer science. I have never looked back. I learned these lessons the hard way, but I hope to pave the way for other women who struggle with this concept so erroneously taught to us.
Tuning in and listening to a small spark of interest was critical as it grew into a flame and is now an expanding inferno: a rewarding and long-standing career, working for years in roles such as a network engineer at Novell, a technical consultant at Oracle, in senior leadership roles in technology operations at eBay, the founder of the consulting and publishing firm at RizeNext Corp, and now enabling hundreds of women to flame their inner spark. All these life stages have given me a set of sought-after skills and supported me during some of my life’s most colossal challenges.
Challenging Work-Life Balance
On the first day of coursework, we begin working with students, introducing new ideas for managing life and work to ensure their successful course completion. Every class starts with nervous energy, mixed emotions felt by women ages twenty to over seventy, non-parents, moms and grandmas, single and married, all beginning their own life-transformation journey. Some have been out of the workforce, and others are actively working. Wherever they are starting from, they all share a common goal and a sense of hope, fear, and excitement as they strive to change the trajectory of their lives and the lives of their families.
The Tech-Moms community has since become a force of change long overdue in a culture where women traditionally stay home to raise children. Over the years, as we have transitioned the way for other women who struggle with this concept so erroneously taught to us. Tuning in and listening to a small spark of interest was critical as it grew into a flame and is now an expanding inferno: a rewarding and long-standing career, working for years in roles such as a network engineer at Novell, a technical consultant at Oracle, in senior leadership roles in technology operations at eBay, the founder of a consulting firm, and now enabling hundreds of women to flame their inner spark.
All these life stages have given me a set of sought-after skills and supported me during some of my life’s most colossal challenges. On the first day of coursework, we begin working with students, introducing new ideas for managing life and work to ensure their successful course completion. Every class starts with nervous energy, mixed emotions felt by women ages twenty to over seventy, non-parents, moms and grandmas, single and married, all beginning their own life-transformation journey. Some have been out of the workforce, and others are actively working. Wherever they are starting from, they all share a common goal and a sense of hope, fear, and excitement as they strive to change the trajectory of their lives and the lives of their families. This community has since become a force of change long overdue in a culture where women traditionally stay home to raise children.
In this case, your instrument is yourself, so you learn to tune in to yourself to feel and act in harmony with the outside world. Considering that you are like an instrument, to play well, you must continually take time to tune in. Throughout this book, you will stop and “tune in.” Acknowledging your thoughts, reflecting on them, and setting new goals and priorities for you to achieve harmony. Let’s take a moment to tune in now.
TUNING INTO HARMONY
The questions below will not be shared publicly, and are for you and I only. Take time to think through as writing allows you to process your thoughts, false ideals, shift behaviors, and create new mindsets.
Do you feel that you are in harmony? Why, or why not?
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What thoughts have come to mind as you reflect on moving from a life of “balance” to “harmony?”
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