First Business Trip Away as a New Dad
Who said business travel was fun?
One of the toughest emotional events I’ve experiences with my new baby is having to travel for work and leave my new family for the first time! The whole day I was just dreading the car picking me up to take me to the airport.
My pick-up was early evening before my baby goes to bed for the night. I was hoping the catch a car later so at least my baby did not have to see me leave – no luck. As the hours flew by on that Sunday, my thoughts kept creeping back to the fact I had to leave my baby and my wife. I spent most of the day just trying to keep busy and not think about the actual moment of leaving. The stress of that just keeps eating at you not to mention the whole guilt factor.
The stress. Luckily, my wife is very understanding and does not give me a hard time about business travel. But for your partner, the stress level has to go up 1,000 percent when you leave. When the stress goes up at home and you’re not there you can bet there will be some that comes your way eventually. That is not a negative comment, your partner needs to share/vent their frustrations when you are not there, and I actually think that builds a health relationship.
Ah, then there is the guilt factor. The guilt can be overwhelming at least it is for me. Waking up to a pleasant phone “wake-up call” as opposed to crying babies, showering without rushing, not having to participate in the daily morning ritual of parenting is liberating and yet guilt ridden. It’s hard not thinking about your partner and what they are going through without your help. Sometimes I’d rather be the one at home and have my partner travels. The physical demands of the kids are easier to deal with than the emotional guilt you carry around during the whole trip.
So, what to do? I don’t know? I basically just try to keep my mind off it somehow. Easier said than done! The one good aspect of being on the road is that you are usually very busy and that keeps the mind busy. Otherwise I would just sit in the hotel room and fester.
Posted on Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 11:36 am.
Filed under Daddy Blog, Daddy STRESS.
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October 1st, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Pathetic. Get a grip. Your father his father and every father since the begining of man has had to leave the home for some reason or an other. Why don’t you grow a pair and get a good night of sleep while you can.
October 4th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
john -
your right my dad and his dad also had times when they left and i’m sure they had the same issues. no one said that was easy, but you put on the man face and go on.
November 10th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
I found your story because I was actually trying to find any kind of advice for this same thing. I am forced to travel a lot for my job. My wife and I have a 4 month old daughter. She also just went back to work full time last month.
I know the stress must be extreme on her but I don’t know what to do. It seems every job in my field requires at least some travel. I do as much as I can while I am home to take care of the baby but that still does not prevent her from expressing her unhappiness with the situation. Just wondering if anyone else was in the same situation and how you handled it.