“I Struggle All The Time”: Pippa O’Connor Opens Up About Balancing Motherhood With A Career

Pippa O’Connor was contacted by a mum-of-two yesterday who wanted advice on how to balance family life and a career. But Pippa took to Snapchat yesterday evening to reassure her and other fans that nobody is perfect, and that something has always got to give.

“She was asking me for tips on how to cope and have a balance,” the entrepreneur began, “But first of all I am by no means perfect. My idea of ‘balance’ might be your idea of a nightmare. Like, absolutely no one has it all perfect and sussed, or the best of everything, because that’s just not possible.

“If you’re a working mother, you sacrifice loads of things to do that, and with that comes guilt… So don’t be fooled by the social media, by mine or by anyone else’s. We all share the majority of the best bits. Instagram is full of beautiful pictures and outfit posts, because that’s what I like to share and that’s fine.

“Personally speaking, I struggle all the time to try and work and to make sure my kids are okay, or ‘are they okay when I’m away from them’? Then you feel bad if you come home and you’re not cooking a fresh meal, like no one does it all perfectly.

“I don’t come on Snapchat when my kids are having a meltdown and they’re driving me mad. Snapchat is the last thing on my mind when something’s not going right, whether it’s work or I had a fight with my husband, or something’s gone wrong…

“I love my Snapchat to be positive and uplifting. I know you’re women like me, my age, with a family, and you sit down at 8 o’clock when the kids have gone to bed and you want a bit of escapism. So I’m not gonna sit here and be like ‘And this happened to today, and that, and that…’

“I want people to smile watching my Snapchat, I don’t want 100,000 people to be like, ‘ugh, she’s depressing me as well as herself.’

“There’s things in business that are really brain-frying and difficult. You’ve no idea of the blood, sweat, and often daily tears that goes along with it. There’s loads of crap.

“I’m lucky to have my husband in business with me, so that’s a big plus and a big help. If he wasn’t in it with me I wouldn’t be able to do what I do at the level I do it at.

“When it comes to my kids, I know I’m fortunate. Ollie goes to preschool so that’s different, but we have an amazing girl who looks after Louis, and if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.

“I rely on so many other things to make it all happen. I’m not here cooking and cleaning and minding kids and working at the same time. I rely heavily on different things and different people and I’m so fortunate that I’m able to put all that in place so I can do what I want to do.

“I don’t think anyone has the perfect life. Some of my friends are stay-at-home mums now, and I’m envious of them because that makes me feel bad, like, ‘Jesus, should I be doing that?’

“And then they say to me, ‘You’re so lucky to be in a position to do what you do.’ So I don’t think that anyone thinks they know it all.”

What do you make of Pippa’s comments?