MELISSA NICHOLSON: The end-of-school craziness always hits me like a two-by-four. If I know one thing for sure, it’s this: There will always be seasons that are challenging to navigate—when life moves fast and work is intense. And if there’s one thing I miss about job sharing, it’s having that work BFF, that work bestie, your partner, who is always looking out for your well-being.

Introduction

INTRO: Welcome to Job Share Revolution. The show about job sharing—a partnership between two people to bring two minds and skill sets to one full-time position. I’m Melissa Nicholson, former job sharer turned founder of the first U.S. job share company. But it wasn’t long ago that I felt like an utter failure at work and as a new parent. Job sharing was my game-changer. I reclaimed four days a week to fully engage in my life while my capable partner handled everything. Together, we achieved more than I ever could solo. Fast forward to many lessons learned to bring you the training and support I wish I’d had to change lives and the modern-day workplace. Let’s live life and slay work.

Melissa Nicholson intro

MELISSA: Hey there, friend. Welcome back to the show . It’s Mel, and I am so excited to bring you today’s episode—but first, I need to share why this particular episode is so special.

Today, I’m bringing back our number one most popular episode from the Jobshare Revolution podcast archives. Episode 12: “How to Take a Summer Pause for Real Self-Care.” And honestly, I think this episode’s popularity speaks volumes about how absolutely overrun we all feel, especially us parents during what I affectionately hate call “Maycember.”

You know what I’m talking about—that insane collision of May coinciding with the end-of-school activities, graduations, talent shows, awards ceremonies, field days. It’s like December-level chaos but with sunshine and the promise of summer freedom just out of reach. And then when summer finally hits, many of us parents are left scrambling with ad-hoc childcare that just doesn’t mesh well with our work schedules. Trust me, it doesn’t get any easier when they age out of summer camps either.

It makes so much sense why this episode resonates, especially as we’re entering June right now. So I just  knew I had to bring it back.

Just this past week was my daughter Iris’s high school graduation, and let me tell you—I felt just about as smacked around as her unicorn piñata whacked hard by a dozen teen girls during her grad party. We just wrapped up five solid days of “grad-u-palooza”—hosting grandparents, crying at parent breakfast, dealing with the last day of school ON graduation day, the break-neckingly fast prep for her grad party that honestly felt like planning a small wedding, and then hosting the party itself. Plus, all the feels. I mean big, big emotions.

But I’m still here, I’m still standing, and I am ready for a much gentler schedule for her last summer home before college. So Iam thrilled to bring back this encore episode to help you create the boundaries and the space to do the same. 

Friend, we don’t just need this pause—we deserve it.

Melissa NICHOLSON

MELISSA: In today’s mindset minisode, I wanted to have a little check-in with you about real self-care. Maybe you are coming out of an extremely chaotic, crazy work and life season like I am. The end-of-school craziness always hits me like a two-by-four. I just can’t keep up with the school events.

The tests and prepare for how to keep up with my two kids busy schedules during these summer months, making sure that they’re actually being, you know, productive. Not sitting in front of a screen all day, but working or having real play with real friends. That’s kind of hard to navigate when you work from a modular office in your backyard, like I do, and there in the house.

I have to say, if I know one thing for sure, it’s this: There will always be seasons that are challenging to navigate when life moves fast and work is intense.

And if there’s one thing I miss about job sharing, it’s having that work BFF, that work bestie, your partner who is always looking out for your well-being. Who’s making sure that you put work down there. You hand it off quite literally and you walk away making sure others don’t bother you on your off days. I mean, your job share partner is fiercely protective of you in a way that most people don’t really get. It’s really, really sweet and it’s a very loving protection. And it’s kind of like heart-cloaked, if that makes sense.

But your job share partner is always looking out for you, making sure you are okay. And that’s something I really miss. Even though it’s been years since I’ve job shared, those lessons are ones that I take to heart. I mean, I job shared for over nine years and it really stayed with me just how important it is to practice real self-care.

I want to encourage you to also as you move through life. I hate to tell you this, but it gets more challenging if you’ve got little ones. Those kiddos make it bigger. You go through that elementary school period of time where your kids are getting more independent, and they’re doing a lot of really fun things, but then they get involved in sports and you’ve got rec centers, sports.

And as they grow, they get involved in more and more, and there’s more activities, more to be aware of, more to be on top of more to be on top of with their mental health, their grades, the things they’re involved in, the kids that they’re listening to, people who are doing numbers over on them. So like, there’s just a lot to manage as as kids get older.

And then you might hit, you know, past the forty mark there, and then you start maybe even getting closer to fifty, and wham, you might get slammed with sandwich generation dual caregiving—like I did, taking care of parents and kids. And maybe you don’t need to take care of your parents altogether. My mom has Alzheimer’s so it’s a completely different thing.

But there are a lot of parents who do depend on their adult children quite a lot. So you’ve got to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself first. It’s oxygen mask time. And as much as I love, you know, massages, facials. And to be honest, it’s been years since I’ve had those. But I’m changing that. I like that kind of self-care.

But the other kind of self-care I want to talk to you about is the kind that is really sustainable. You’re going to need your friends and you’re going to need a supportive partner. Those things are like non-negotiables as we go through life. You just need your friends and you need your partner. So for me, real self-care means getting more sleep, moving my body, whether that’s walking my dog Howard the Great or doing yoga with Adriene, which I love by the way.

And that also includes regular friend time, eating healthier, and therapy, which I’ve only just started doing since the pandemic and I am so glad I did. I want to talk about the sleep part because that’s definitely been something I have really struggled with. I’m not sure if it has to do with perimenopause or menopause. And oh hey, yeah, while caring for my mom, I found out because I missed my annual last year sometime in the middle of menopause, so who knows…

But I know it’s more of a challenge and it’s something I’m really prioritizing. It also means checking in with myself, resting, and taking a pause when needed. With that, I’ve got some news and an announcement. We are moving to our kinder, gentler summer schedule with biweekly episodes in June and July.

It’s the summer pause, and I suggest you find some time to pause a bit in your life this summer too. Those kids grow up real fast. Just like when they were little, I’m a mushy mom who loves spending time with them. I just love seeing who they are, who they’re becoming, and how they operate in the world. I like slowing down and just being able to pay attention to it all because I know it’s going to be gone before I know it. I mean, they’ll always be my kids. I want to have a relationship with them, a real relationship for the rest of their lives that when they’re off living on their own, it’s going to be different.

CLOSING

Well, there you have it, friend. Our most popular episode for a reason. I hope this reminder about taking a real summer pause landed exactly where you needed it to.

As I’m recording this, we are officially in summer mode here, and I’m practicing what I preached in that episode. Iris is soaking up her last summer before college, my son is deep in his summer adventures, and I’m trying my best to be present for all of it while still showing up for you and this important work that we are doing together.

If this episode hit home for you—and I have a feeling it did—I’d love to hear from you. Send me a DM on LinkedIn and let me know how you’re practicing real self-care this summer. Are you taking that pause? Are you setting those boundaries?

And hey, if you’re thinking that job sharing could be the ultimate form of self-care in your life—because honestly, it really is—I’d love to help you explore that possibility. You can grab my free guide to job sharing at workmuse.com and join our community of people who are ready to live life AND slay work. I’ll put the link in the show notes.  

Thanks for being here, thanks for listening, and remember—you deserve that pause. Take it.

I’ll see you back here soon. Bye for now.