Journaling Prompts for Returning to Work After Having a Baby
Ending maternity leave forces a brutal, often unnatural split in your identity. You are expected to seamlessly resume your professional persona while your nervous system is biologically screaming to remain with your child. The compounding forces of sleep deprivation, hormonal shifts, and the profound guilt of leaving your infant create an invisible, crushing weight that colleagues rarely see. Journaling provides a sanctuary to process this intense division. By explicitly mapping out the logistical nightmares and the visceral heartbreak, you can validate the sheer difficulty of this transition, giving yourself the grace to survive this period of extreme duality.
Journaling Prompts
Write down the exact guilt you are carrying about leaving your child. Now, aggressively counter that guilt with the factual, loving reasons you are returning to work.
Identify the specific logistical failure you are terrified of (e.g., a pumping disaster, missing a milestone). Walk through the exact, practical steps you will take if that failure occurs.
What boundary at work must you absolutely enforce now that you are a parent? Draft the direct, unapologetic email or statement you will use to establish it.
Acknowledge the professional grief. What aspects of your pre-baby career drive and identity do you miss, and what aspects are you actively relieved to have shed?
Set an absolute baseline for success this week. If you only accomplish three things to keep yourself and your family functioning, what must they be?