It is tough. I had my child late so I had career success first, but becoming a mother meant reprioritising and I see friends in different circumstances achieving more than I do now. Mostly I don't mind - I've made my choices with eyes wide open - but occasionally it does get to me. (What gets to me more often, but this is a different topic, is seeing DH have more energy to put into work achievements than I do because most of the parenting etc. falls to me. I'm the one spending time on this website, for example; he just comes to the meetings. It's my choice to be here and I get a lot out of it, but it's time he's spending thinking about his work...)
I think you're at a really tough stage, particularly given that you're younger and haven't had so much time to do the BTDT stuff pre-baby. It will get better.
Hmm. Thinking a bit more, are there two different things going on here for you, wanting to achieve and be recognised, and wanting to get enjoyable intellectual stimulation? Which is more at issue, would you say? Is part of the problem the difficulty in getting both from one activity? The first is tough when you don't have much time, although I know you have a fledgling business and maybe it'll make your millions in due course, good luck! Would it maybe help to add some purely-because-you-want-to learning into each day, even if only for a few minutes? E.g. maybe pick a
Great Courses course you like the look of and watch an episode while your DD feeds, if that's easier to fit into your life than reading?
FWIW, now that DS is older, I feel much more that it's intellectually "different" rather than "less" than what I'd be doing otherwise, because he's learning all the time and often it's things I don't know myself and I get to learn things too.
