How to Pursue Your Passion and Serve Your Kids Through Your Business with Melissa Pyrch

How to Pursue Your Passion and Serve Your Kids Through Your Business with Melissa Pyrch

Welcome to this episode of The Determined Mom Show. I am Amanda Tento, and today I have Melissa Pyrch, an author, teacher, writer, and speaker. She does many different things, and I’m excited to have her here cause she’s going to be talking to us about how we can serve our kids and all of those things through our business. 

In our podcast pre-call, we talked quite a bit about your story and how you got started. Could you share with our audience how you decided to write a book, why, and what you plan to help people?

I’m an English teacher. Growing up, I was an English teacher for over 20 years; I always loved literature and had a passion for writing. And when I started teaching, I went on to do my master’s in creative writing, and I always had this kind of drive to be published and to write a book and to figure it out. What it is that I could share with the world. And it took me a while to figure out exactly what I wanted to share, and it did come from my classroom.

Over the years, I’ve shared countless stories with my students about my upbringing, college journey, major choice, and figuring out too. Balance teaching with family and all these life lessons that you figure out, unfortunately, with trial and error. So I decided one night to sit down and start writing them down, writing these stories and lessons outside of what I teach in my classroom.

And that became my book Beyond the Bell, lessons High School Failed to teach. And right now, I’m working on getting that book in, hopefully landing a literary agent. Someday soon, that will happen. And we’ll get this on bookshelves. And I can share this stuff with a greater audience than just the kids that wind up in my classroom every day.

I will be honest that the mom hat and suddenly trying to be a teacher at home, Is, is a different experience than when you’re in that classroom. And, uh, having my own three children at home, it’s funny because I’ve been doing this for 20 years and sometimes I’m, I find myself fighting with my eight-year-old to finish an assignment when meanwhile I’m, I have a hundred kids a day that is doing what I say.

One of the things I think as moms we carry with us is guilt, guilt to take care of ourselves. It feels like you want to go out to dinner with friends. There’s the guilt of, did my kids eat? Do you know if I left dinner on the table? You know, I didn’t see them all day. They’re at school. 

It’s just this thing we have as moms that we’re forced to juggle, and we feel, I think, we’re hardest on ourselves, but what I’ve realized, and it took me a long time, it took me a while to figure out that I can serve my kids more healthily if I too am serving, my passions and giving myself what fills.

I know we hear all of this, you know, there’s a significant self-care term these days, but it still takes growth within ourselves to be able to do that, to execute it. So I figured out that one of my things, of course, has been writing this book. I thought to myself, how will I do what I’ve always wanted to do, which is write this book when I have three children?

I have three kids, three boys, nine, six, and two, and I work full-time. And when I go home, I want to give them my all. But I also want to be an author. I also want this book out. Um, and I want, I want my passion to be fulfilled. So what I’ve figured out is I attach that to my children.

I would never let my children down. I want to show them they can chase any dream they want. So I figured out and processed that if they are doing what they see. We see them; they repeat what we say, they act the way we do. Sometimes I’m like, wait for a second if this is really how kids develop and grow, then if I’m doing what I love and show them that I can dream, you know, chase my dream, I’m doing more for them almost than I am for myself.

I’m showing them how to go and pursue their dream. And that anything is possible. And it’s been great for me because I’ve seen my kids invest in my dream. They see me typing every night. They see me, you know, getting emails from literary agents. They see me getting rejected, and they’re cheering me on, and I realize that I’m serving them.

So if you can attach your dream to your children and show that that will serve your kids, then the guilt dissipates. The guilt goes away, and it’s just, you know, as important as getting a healthy meal on the table, giving the baths, you know, this is just another task that will serve you and your children.

I have an Instagram following, and I share some of my messages and motivational stuff with my audience there. And my kids are great about helping me create pictures and, uh, being part of that. So, they get a kick out. The other thing I have them do is when I get the query letter sent, I gather my kids around, and I have them hit send with me.

We send it out into the universe and get excited, reminding them we’re waiting for an answer. And then they get excited when the emails come in. They’ve been begging me, can we read your book? Can we read your book? And I said, when you’re in high school, you can read the book.

Nine years old, just thinking, this is pretty good. I can go big with this. And  I think that’s where it starts for kids, you know, I think it’s where it starts. It’s so important and. Making the time is also for moms; whether it’s your business or your passion, we are constantly fighting for time, um, putting it in the schedule.

So for a long time, I also made sure I worked as I was home from three o’clock to 10 o’clock. I made sure I did the kids and the baths. Then, the dinner, I read, read stories, got them in bed, got lunches ready for the next day, got my stuff ready, and then I would write from 10 to 12 every night.

And I know that’s a long day. But it was either when I could fit it in, and it was like, okay, either I push myself, or this doesn’t happen. Again, even if you carve that hour out, I’m not a morning person. Everyone said, how come you don’t get up at, you know, four 30, or five? And because that’s to me is miserable. Staying up till 12 is okay for me. That’s great, but you can find it. Time exists if you make it, carve it out, and commit to it.

I have all my children. They’re healthy. I got this. I know what to do now as a mom with three kids, And I felt like it was the time for me. Timing is key. And when it feels right, you’ll know and be excited about the a. Yeah, not overwhelmed. We only want to overwhelm more moms than we already are.