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Anya | Margin Mum

@marginmum

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18 years corporate. 3 kids. Starting over at 40. Documenting the leap, helping mums find theirs.

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Somewhere along the way we decided ambition had to look loud — hustle, grind, more, faster. But there’s a quieter kind of chic. The kind that rests before burnout. That says no without justifying it. That takes motherhood as seriously as any job title. That moves slowly on purpose, in a world that’s forgotten how.

None of this is really about being “chic.” It’s about giving yourself permission to want what you want, and to build it slowly, honestly, on your own terms.

Which one do you need to hear today? 🤍

#slowliving #softliving #slowmotherhood #motherhoodreframed #workingmumlife by @marginmum

There was a time where I missed “the old me” but it turns out she didn’t leave, she simply transformed into someone I like even more 🫶🏼
#motherhoodjourney by @marginmum

Living on cuddles, coffee, and chaos ☕🤎 Welcome to my cosy mum era 🫶🏻 by @marginmum

What I want is to be home with my children. To be present for my children, to be available for them.

Follow along. I’m figuring it out as it happens.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum

At 6 in the morning I was walking to the train station. An hour on the train into central London, and one thought the whole way: I just want to be home with my children when they wake up.

I was raised to be responsible. If you have a job, you work. So I went. 18 years of that.

I went back after all three of my children. By the third time, my heart wasn’t there, and my head finally caught up with it.

I will never miss that walk or commute.

Follow along. I’m figuring this out as it happens.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum

I’ve lived both versions. Fully present at work, or fully present at home. Neither one worked.

So right now I’m giving myself time. Not to hide from the next job. To understand what would work for me and my family.

That’s not a lack of ambition. It’s the first honest decision I’ve made in years.

Follow along as I’m figuring this out.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum

Most creators show you the after. This is the during.

A laptop with a view. Kids asleep next to me. Building something in the margins of motherhood, as it happens.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum

Everybody talks about going back to work from maternity leave, and picking up from where you left it before.

But nobody actually tells you that the person who left doesn’t actually come back.

I went back three times after three maternity leaves, and each time I was expected to just slot back in. Each time realising a little more that the person I was was no longer there, and I didn’t want to be there anymore.

It took me until baby number three to stop trying to go back, and start asking what I actually wanted to do instead.

If you’ve ever sat at your desk and felt like a stranger in your own life, comment ME and let’s talk about it.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum

Eighteen years in corporate compliance. Three children. I stopped applying.

Not because I gave up. Because I started asking what I actually want.

Save this for the day you need to hear it.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum

I used to walk into the room and know exactly who I was. Eighteen years of being the one with the answers, and the one who didn’t need to be checked on.

Then I became a mum three times, and somewhere in between I lost a sense of who I was underneath the job title.

Nobody tells you that the identity crisis is not only “am I a good mum” — it’s also “do I even know who I am at work anymore?”

I’m still figuring it out. Some days I feel like both people. Some days neither.

If you’ve ever sat in a meeting room and felt like you’re performing a version of yourself that is no longer fitting your life — tell me, when did you first notice it? I see you.

Follow along. I have now left my corporate career, and I’m going to be figuring out what’s next.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum

This is what the in-between looks like right now. No office. No plan yet. Still here.

Follow along. I’m figuring it out as it happens.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum

The school day runs from 8:45 to 3:15. The standard full-time job runs from 9:00 to 5:00.

Then it’s after-school club, pick-up close to six, dinner to make, homework, and bed by eight-ish. That leaves two hours of quality time with my children, after a full day of work and a full day apart.

Nobody has built this framework for a family with young children. We’re just told that we should cope. This is normal. Other families are managing to cope with this.

But I don’t think most families are managing. I think most of us just stopped questioning it.

We don’t live to work. We work so that we have a good quality of life. Somewhere along the way that flipped.

Follow along as I’m figuring out how to build something in the margins of motherhood.

#marginmum #workingmum #motherhoodandwork #careerchange #leavingcorporate by @marginmum