Do you ever get the feeling that you’re too busy spinning more plates than anyone can reasonably be expected to spin and that you haven’t got time to concentrate on any one thing properly?

I have been working across a few different time zones of late and, yesterday, the effects became clear as I made a call to my vet and asked if I could bring Lucy the bulldog in as the poor thing needed a claw removed.

I wondered why the receptionist who, as a multiple animal owner knows me way to well by now, sounded so surprised.

I repeated my request just as she said: “I thought you said you were never going to get another bulldog Sandie? Let's get her registered then. What is Lucy’s kennel club number?”

Then I realised my mistake. “Oh Lord, sorry. Lucy is my daughter! The bulldog is called Suzie!!!”

I chuckled down the phone before confirming that the appointment was indeed for the dog, although I don’t think the receptionist was too impressed with me confusing a bulldog with my wee one.

I was still chuckling to myself as I relayed the story to a client … who had the same reaction the receptionist.

The look she gave me, brought flooding back all the memories of being drenched with guilt when returning to work even though I had a newborn baby at home.

I was reminded of the critical judgments some people felt free to pass on me. As if, somehow, I had committed a crime by choosing to work and be a mother simultaneously.

I have a deep admiration for any parent who manages to juggle life and children.

I am maxed out organising my one and only daughter and was recently in complete awe when training a doctor who slipped in to conversation that she had three children under the age of five and was still managing to work full time. My jaw hit the floor. She was a living, breathing filo fax of organisation.

Interestingly, she said she had felt the same sort of judgments but from both sides of the fence. Colleagues who assumed she should indeed be working full - and overtime - as per usual, while some of her family members, and even other mums, gasped in horror that she was back going to work daily.

I see this sort of thing a lot with clients. Society seems to bestow unreal expectations upon us. The practical realities of modern day life and the freedom of choice it brings is at odds with what previous generations saw as ‘normal’ parenting.

So, whether you decide your ‘job’ is to be a parent who brings up the children or you entrust the care of your child to someone else while you undertake other work, there should be no guilt whatsoever attached to your decision.

Remember too that we experience a range of emotions and sometimes we can misread them.

So, for parents who struggle with the enforced separation from their children, we can work with on transforming the feeling of anxiety they feel when leaving their child and instead reframe it to a feeling of excitement about getting home to see them again.

Remembering that everything is just a phase and life keeps us moving forward whether we like it or not.

And I'm pretty sure that, when Lucy is old enough to understand that, she will chuckle too when I tell her about the day I booked her in to the vet to have her claws removed.

We are all just doing our best after all.

Sandie.

Sandie Robertson is a respected lifestyle and confidence coach and #1 bestselling author of “I Believe I Can” If you want to work with Sandie you can contact her at info@sandierobertson.com or on 0141 2251411