I stumbled upon a post this morning that caused me to stop in my tracks. Another writer in cyberspace appeared to be echoing the very core of my message here at Alpha WAHM, which is that work-life balance is not a meaningful goal for the ambitious work-at-home mom.
Jonathan Mead doesn’t articulate this specifically. But in “De-Compartmentalizing Your Life and the Extinction of Boundaries,” he describes in poignant detail how trying to compartmentalize our life creates a shallow existence. Each facet of ourselves is shown to each audience in a manner that can be nothing but inauthentic. You may be one person at work, another at home, and another again with friends. Yet no one persona is entirely real.
In fact, I think Jonathan is trying to tell us that the parts do not in fact equal the whole. One makes no sense without the others being present and visible and expressed. In turn, each persona is a hollow facade. In any context, we ask ourselves to choose just one persona, and we end up feeling empty and at loose ends.
“Your desires, your dreams, your purpose, and your contribution to the world becomes one and the same. This is what it means to live with the extinction of boundaries. This is what it means to be completely and radically congruent.”
This IS the message of my book, Alpha WAHM Blueprint. I only wish I’d come across Jonathan’s blog while I was writing my book so I could quote him in it 
As work-at-home moms, I think it’s important to run a reality check now and then to see if we are in fact living authentically as our whole selves. Some questions that come to mind:
- Are you still apologizing to friends, loved ones and co-workers for your WAHM choices?
- Do the people that matter most to you fully understand and respect your decisions as a WAHM?
- Have you revealed *all* of yourself to these people so that they CAN understand you better?
- Can you yet sum up your inextricably linked passion and purpose in life? Or do you constantly feel confused or lost?
- Do you feel fully present in each waking moment, or do you feel distracted and strained?
I myself still struggle with the answers to the above questions. However, I’m fully aware of the “friction” happening within me when my life feels more fragmented than “congruent” (to borrow an adjective from Jonathan’s post). It’s in this awareness that I am able to start re-connecting the dots between the fragments to live as an authentically whole human being (and woman).
About this Alpha WAHM Blogger: Karri is the Alpha WAHM who owns this joint. She also happened to write the book. 
