@porven I couldn't wait to get back to work but it wasn't because I crave adult interaction. I could happily do without interacting with others. Maybe because I'm introverted, but I love my job best when I'm just left alone to do it. But I find my job highly satisfying, knowing what to do, the challenge of getting it done, and being paid for it.
But then I don't find any satisfaction in housework at all. For me it is oh great, the house is clean, don't move, don't breath and maybe it will stay that way for like 2 seconds. I cook dinner and now I have a pile of dishes again. I just did laundry, but tomorrow there will be a new pile. I vacuum, but the family comes home and tracks dirt everywhere. To me, housework is repetitive and never ending. No matter how much I get done today, it starts all over again tomorrow.
@aver Agree on most housework. It’s boring and repetitive and requires very little mental energy. I absolutely love food preparation and cooking though as it takes thought and a bit of creativity to do well.
@porven I'm fairly introverted so the only thing I miss is time alone. Sometimes I like to go to a restaurant by myself for a couple of hours and read a book
@porven I think this is one of those things you miss after much longer than a typical maternity leave, especially if this is your third maternity leave. I think I would start to “miss adult interaction” after maybe 1-2 years at home with the kids. Maybe longer since I talk to my husband plenty.
@porven At the end of the day imho nothing is more valuable in life than a loving parent. Jobs/work/money will come and go. So the fact that your family fulfills you is great!
@porven I’m a very verbal person and a thinker. I found having babies and toddlers unbearably boring because we couldn’t communicate on a level I enjoyed. So work was important for me to engage that part of my brains My kids are 5 and 7 now and now I can get that stimulus from our relationship which is great.
@porven I do not relate at all- and I’m so glad. I love that there are people like you who are fulfilled in other ways. Imagine we were all workaholics? Sounds like a boring world. I’m glad you know what makes you happy and I hope you never feel any guilt about it.
@porven I missed feeling stimulated by things I was interested in during my maternity leave. Hours of sleep deprivation and breast feeding was like my personal hell. My kid is 18 months now and so far, those first three months of the newborn phase/maternity leave were by far the worst. Even now though, I look forward to Mondays because dealing with multiple adult toddlers for belief periods of time is still less stressful and exhausting than one toddler all day, even though I like my little guy a lot more.
@porven I do crave adult interaction because i truly get 0 adult interaction. Got so busy in taking care of kids and house and work, I list touch with everyone and its too late to find those folks back. I also feel that the pool decreases once you get married because if your other half does not like your friends, it makes it tougher. I am not complaining because I have accepted it.but I still crave adult interaction.
@porven Could just be the people you work with too. My personal experience was that the people at my regular 9-7 (gonna call it for what is) were really awful and hard to relate to. Many of them had spent their whole lives doing nothing but working and were single at an older age, didn’t have kids, weren’t dating, etc
The people that I’ve met since quitting my office job have been far more enriching to my life and in the much shorter time I’ve known them have established a better and deeper bond.
@porven I do crave adult interaction but I don’t feel I need to get it from work (and I’m a teacher so I don’t really get it from work anyway). I am lucky that at the moment i do work with awesome adults i genuinely love spending time with, but this is certainly the exception not the rule and usually it’s more like the adults at work are making me want to stab myself with a rusty spoon. I took two years off when my third was born and got plenty of quality adult interaction at play dates, library story time, free forest school, etc. I do like my job and personally it’s important to me to always be able to support myself because you never know what life brings, but if I won the lottery or something I wouldn’t hesitate to resign and would be able to supply plenty of adult interaction without being forced to be at work 40+ hours a week!
@porven Nope, I’m the same as you, I don’t miss it.
I have social anxiety anyway, so I’m fine with no adult interactions.
My kids need interaction with others though, so we do plan things with friends here and there, if we didn’t I’d definitely be a recluse lol.
@porven When I was a stay at home mom I craved working and adult interaction. When I was working I craved home organization and keeping it all together. So, yes, I feel this in my bones.
@porven Oh 100%! I've had 2 maternity leaves (3 months, then 4 months) and one COVID isolation shut down (3 months). At no time during any of those periods did I miss seeing other adults or crave interaction. I absolutely LOVED being left alone to tend to my kids and my home. I was able to dedicate the time I wanted to my kids, being a mom, being a wife, caring for my home. I mourned having to return to public life. I do, however, understand that I kinda need to be forced into a public setting because I'll become too introspective and ultimately weird otherwise. So no, I don't crave the interaction but I will acknowledge that I do require it to keep me balanced.
