Originally, Diana Hernandez was on my radar because she's a super-cool mom Instagrammer with thousands of followers who happened to live in the same Midwestern city as me. However, the reason I decided to reach out to her for this series is because of a post she did about pre-natal (or antenatal) depression. Last week I shared about my experience with anxiety and depression and how medication has helped me. However, to get pregnant, I went off of my medication. That combined with pregnancy hormones sent me into a really bad place during my first trimester. It's not something people share much about because it's supposed to be such a joyous time. I felt so relieved when I read Diana's post about dealing with similar feelings during her current pregnancy. She's since moved away from St. Louis, but I'm so happy she was able to participate in the Creative Motherhood series. I love how she's so accepting of the fact that toddler life is constantly changing and doesn't hold herself to a schedule that might not pan out. Enjoy! ---Dacy
Q: Introduce yourself, your family, the work (aside from mothering) you currently do, and how that work has evolved as your children have grown.
A: My name’s Diana Hernandez. Our little family is currently expecting baby #2 (yay)! My husband and I have a 2.5 year old boy, Kaden, and we’re thrilled to add Baby Eli to our tribe. I’m a digital influencer (aka blogger) & work straight from home. I feel immensely blessed that I have the opportunity to financially contribute to our household all while staying home with my son. Throughout these couple years I’ve discovered my writing niche and have discovered the real purpose of Mother Soul; which is to create a purpose in others. To inspire women to thrive, flourish, and live happier. As I’m growing continually in motherhood, my blog has transformed along with me.
Q. Do you wish you could do more or less creative work?
A: I am actually satisfied with the amount of curated promotions and campaigns for brands I’m working on. Content creating is one of my best talents and I truly love what I’m doing. It’s the perfect balance.
Q. Did choosing not to work full time affect any financial or career goals for you?
A: Back in St Louis I was working 3 “part time” jobs which felt as if I was working full time. Aside from blogging, I was St Louis Magazine’s weekly style columnist and a breastfeeding counselor at WIC. My schedule was quite hectic. Now that I’m solely focusing on digital marketing it’s nice to catch a break, while still striving to grow my business as an entrepreneur.
Q. What kind of a “village” or help do you have around you?
My entire family is highly supportive of the work I do, especially my husband. He jokes around and says one day his goal is to quit his job and become my full time photographer. He’s the man behind the camera and helps out by watching over Kaden the days I’m most busy.
Q. Do you feel as though your work and home life lines are blurred? How do you handle that challenge?
A: At the moment, I think I’ve managed to set boundaries between work and home life. At first I did struggle finding that balance between the two. I’d take on way too many tasks and end up feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes, I felt that I was no longer giving my family the quality time they deserved. It took a good 6 months to a year to reflect on this problem and gradually learn how to manage my time better.
Q. What’s a typical day like and when do you actually get your work done?
A: To be completely honest, no day is ever the same around here. I do however try to get most of my work done early in the morning (before my son is up), during naptime, or after he falls asleep. Living with a toddler is unpredictable and you never know what the day has in store for you. So most of the time I play it by ear. I keep my agenda and schedule on hand to make sure I get my tasks completed before due dates.
Q. What do you do when creative ideas hit you and you’re in the middle of mothering?
A: NOTES NOTES NOTES. I’m not always near my planner, but most of the time my phone is right next to me. I jot the idea down in my notes section and when I have some free I make sure to brainstorm a little more and plan out the process to execute the idea.
Q. Do you have any words of encouragement for other moms trying to do all the things?
A: Take it slow. I’m a firm believer in simplicity and minimizing your daily to do tasks. I wouldn’t try to do everything at once because let’s face it, #MOMLIFE is cray. We’ll only drive ourselves nuts doing it all at once. It’s definitely feasible, but I’d rather be at peace and only take on certain amounts of work per week. If you don’t use a planner/agenda, buy one. It saved my life! When I personally feel more organized I thrive more in my environment. You shouldn’t be afraid to simplify, after all, there is more happiness in doing less. As long as you keep productivity going and don’t become stagnant, you will be just fine!
Thanks so much, Diana! Keep up with Diana on her blog and Instagram.
See the other posts in the Creative Motherhood series here.