All to often women find themselves dreading the thought of returning to work at the end of their maternity leave. Some try to go back and decide that they just can’t do it. Others drudge on feeling hopeless and trapped, wishing their week away until they can spend quality time with their children. There are the exceptions. Those Mommies who choose to return to work and thoroughly enjoy that part of their life, but most women feel as though they just don’t have a choice financially.

“Choices” are funny things. Viable or not, they are always present. For example, when faced with what kind of car to buy, I could have “chosen” to purchase a Lamborghini. It is way out of my price range and completely impractical, but I still could have “chosen” it had I really wanted to.

When it comes to returning to work after having a baby, there is always a choice. You might be thinking, “It’s the only option right now.” Maybe you are a single mom, or your income is needed to supplement your husband’s. Maybe you are the primary breadwinner in the family or your co-workers are depending on you to return. Maybe you feel as though you will lose your identity as a professional if you don’t return to work. Whatever your motivation is, take some time to consider your options before committing to a decision regarding your return to the workplace.

This article is not meant to encourage women to be stay-at-home moms. Rather, its purpose is to remind women that they do have a choice in what they do after the baby comes. If you plan to return to work and you know in your heart that you have made an educated and well thought out decision, then congratulations are in order. If you still are not sure that you are comfortable with your post baby plans, some of the strategies below may be of use.

Start by thinking about your reasons for returning to work. Here are some questions to guide you in forming this list, however your list should be specific, for example, “ I need the money.”

• What will I gain by returning to work?
• Who will be most affected by my return to work?
• What will happen to my job if I did not return to work?

Once you have completed this list, start another one counteracting each of your reasons. For example, a counteraction to “I need the money” could be, “I could work at home” or “I could cut back on expenses”.

Your counteraction list will give you some idea of how viable your choices are. If you still don’t have the answer, don’t get discouraged….there is still more to explore. Review your list and choose your most compelling reason to return to work, the one to which your counter reason was impossible to live with. Put this reason in statement form on the top of a piece of paper. For example, if your reason is that you want to make partner by the time you are 30, you should write, I must make partner in my law firm by the time I am 30.

Now get ready to do some creative brainstorming. You can do this by yourself. However, it works best when done with other people. You can ask your partner or call up friends and family and make it into a parlor game! The idea is to come with as many creative ideas as you can that could serve as alternatives. In this activity, your ideas do not have to be viable, the sky is the limit! For example, using the statement above, some ideas might include:

• Pay the partners off to make you partner (not that I encourage this!).
• Start your own law firm from home.
• Stop the aging process until you are ready to return to work.
• Propose that the firm make you honorary partner until you are ready to return to work.
• Put off the idea of becoming partner for a while.
• Buy out the law firm.

The idea is not necessarily to find an answer, but to open your mind to other counter options that you may have not considered previously. When you have completed this exercise do the same thing with your other reasons for returning to work to which you could not find a viable counter reason. Feel free to take a couple of days or even weeks to complete this exercise. If you get stuck, put it down and come back to it later, perhaps even several times a day. You never know when a creative idea will hit you!

Once you have completed the creative brainstorming exercise, look at your “reasons” list again. Has anything changed? Did you come up with any viable alternative options? If not, chances are that you are “choosing” to return to work. This is okay because it is truly a conscious choice. If you see other viable options however, I encourage you to explore them to the fullest and celebrate whatever your final decision may be.