I'm fairly social by nature and consider myself to be pretty competent at making connections. Though it's painfully obvious now that I haven't taken the time to build up an important network for myself.
My business networking skills are decent. I stay in touch with a lot of former colleagues and am well plugged in to my professional world. Of course this is a good thing, and it comes in handy when I need to bring in some money.
I'm not bad at social networking either. Not as good as a salesperson would be, but not bad for me. I take the initiative to set up get-togethers and lunches now and then, and for the most part I feel connected to friends.
And then there's the Mom world. Where I'm struggling to find my footing. You'd think after nearly 4 years of motherhood I'd be plugged in to some sort of Mom support. But I'm not. Of course that's due to my own situation and lack of planning. Up until recently, I've been pretty busy working, and I shared child-care responsibilities with my husband. But things have changed. I'm working less, my husband's working more and has numerous other commitments he's responsible for. So, essentially, I'm running the home scene, 24/7, for the first time. My inexperience and ineptitude at doing this are really smacking me in the face!
Realizing that I need to line up some Mom support, I decided to check out some Mom groups. The first one I tried was a bust. It was advertised at my gym, but no one showed up. Not even the leader!
The second one I tried (with my friend) was pretty good. Advertised as a group for women who are "sequencing," (that makes me chuckle) there were a variety of women -- at-home Moms, in-the-workforce Moms, and somewhere in-between Moms (like me) who work out of their homes in some capacity. I will visit this group again and try some of their activities for Moms and kids. Of course it takes time to build connections, and I'm getting a late start.
In the meantime, my house is messy and dirty. The holidays are upon us. And I'm feeling in like I'm in over my head.
The upside, of course, is that I'm spending more time with my delightful growing boy, which I wouldn't trade for anything.