Returning to work after maternity leave

The first morning back at work after maternity leave is rarely the transition people imagine. You've spent months in a room measured in feeds and naps, and now you're expected to run a meeting.

This isn't a productivity problem. It's an identity shift — one that deserves space, not performance.

Give yourself the first two weeks to relearn the building, the calendar, and the sound of your own voice in a conference room. Not to prove anything.

Rebuild the boundaries between work-you and mother-you deliberately. Not as walls, but as thresholds — small rituals of stepping through.

And know this: nobody in your team is watching as closely as you fear. They're watching whether you seem well. That's the only metric that matters this quarter.