Maternity Leavers by Soozi Baggs Audiobook Narrated by @GemmaSGreen #selfhelp #parenting #mumlife

About this book…

Maternity leave isn’t an obstacle to your career – it’s an opportunity to create the working life you’ve always wanted. Becoming a mum is a life-changing experience, but it changes every life in a different way. Some of us can’t wait to get back to work, others can’t even face the thought of it. Some of us would love to be home as a full-time mum for the baby, toddler, and preschool years, and others are planning to start and grow a business in that time.

One thing we almost all have in common though, is the desire (or need) to make some sort of change to our working life – either to balance our new family responsibilities or because we feel differently about the work we do for a living. Whatever your reasons, and whether you’re having your first baby or your tenth, maternity leave is the perfect time to reflect, regroup, and lay some foundations for a better family future. This book will help you do that. With lots of ideas, practical advice, and stories from personal experience about returning to work, starting your own business, or being a full-time mum, you can create your own unique approach to what to do about work now you’re a mum.

My review…

I don’t normally listen to audio books but having ordered this for my daughter I decided to have a listen and I got rather hooked! One of my daughters is about to finish her maternity leave after having her second child and is looking into her options. She found this book jammed pack full of different possibilities for her work/life balance in the coming few months and having listened to it myself I have to agree that it’s one of the best self help guides I’ve come across in a while. It’s informative but the author has an informal and friendly manner providing plenty of cases studies and personal experiences to back up her advice.

Lots of the advice comes with the main focus being on what works best for YOU! Every woman and their circumstances are different and this is a theme that continues throughout the various topics discussed here, that you are investing in YOURSELF! There are some slightly more “out there” choices discussed when alternative ways of making money are focused upon including blogging (possibly not book blogging I have to say from personal experience!!!) and even matched betting which I had never heard of before now but all are backed up with numeric data and facts making you aware of all The pros and cons.

The author is quite understanding of the fact that a lot of choices are narrowed down by that elephant in the room…..MONEY!! But I have to say that I found there to be a multitude of pathways discussed here that were more relevant to a wider variety of financial situations than I had expected to see. I found some of the scenarios discussed quite heavily office based but that’s a very minor quibble and those threads can easily be channelled into your own situation for future reference.

With this being an audio book, I can’t finish without complimenting the choice of narrator here. I felt as though I was actually having a chat over coffee with a friend about options for the future, often forgetting it wasn’t a two way conversation! The voice fitted the narrative perfectly and was very easy on the ear, which is what you need when you are listening in for several hours continuously.

I wish this book had been around in my day and I’m very jealous that my daughter has been lucky enough to get the best advice available from someone who really knows what they are talking about. This comes very highly recommended by us both!

Maternity Leavers: What to Do About Work Now You’re a Mum is available as an audio book which was the format I used for this review but it’s also available in print and ebook versions.

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