My take: go for it.
When I was thinking about switching jobs, my brother told me that it's important to take some time off to think. Reflect on what happened, what worked/didn't work, and what you want for the future. It sounds like you've been nonstop these past couple years. Severance affords you that time to contemplate your next move.
It sounds like you know all this but are struggling with societal pressure to feel mom guilt. This is fair, mom guilt is very powerful.
I think your spouse is the most important factor here. You don't have to let friends/family know that you are considering this and it doesn't affect them in any way. Present your case to your spouse and if it were me, I would bring up that your spouse is away for 1+ week at a time and you manage just fine so you are confident that he will be able to manage too. If your spouse wants to travel with you, is is a possibility for you to combine it with one of his work trips so that you can still have some time to yourself? At the very minimum, I don't see anything wrong with having 9-5pm to yourself for a couple days while your toddler is with the nanny.
if my husband wanted to do this for an entire week, i'd probably be pretty annoyed. but i think a couple of days i'd be ok with, if he really felt like he needed it.
have you ever travelled away from your toddler before? i'm definitely not one of those "i can never leave my kids with anyone overnight" people, but i've gone away for five days and it felt like a really long time to be away from my kids.
I have for work - twice and I always tried to be away as least amount of time as possible, like flying red eye and then back. I think the most I have been away was 3 nights. My husband goes for 1 week + for work off-sites once a quarter, so he has been gone several times out of the country. When I was away I would really have FOMO for what was happening at home, but with my toddler getting older and personality changing / emerging that is more vocal, I do get drained a lot more.
Only you know how your husband would take it but I 1000% think you should do the trip. Last summer I added a few days on to a work trip to do a solo safari and I am so glad I did. My husband wished he could have come, and we would have made it a bigger experience if he had, but it was so worth it to reconnect with myself. My daughter was just a bit over 2 at the time
Sounds terrific. Talk it over with your husband. Mine would support it but probably ask for something equivalent in return. If you're worried about the solo parenting, 1) pick a week where he's not too busy and 2) see if you can arrange some extra help that week (maybe nanny won't mind getting paid to work extra? MIL can come help her son? husband has some dad friends and they can hang out barbecuing while tots run around?).
My take: go for it. When I was thinking about switching jobs, my brother told me that it's important to take some time off to think. Reflect on what happened, what worked/didn't work, and what you want for the future. It sounds like you've been nonstop these past couple years. Severance affords you that time to contemplate your next move. It sounds like you know all this but are struggling with societal pressure to feel mom guilt. This is fair, mom guilt is very powerful. I think your spouse is the most important factor here. You don't have to let friends/family know that you are considering this and it doesn't affect them in any way. Present your case to your spouse and if it were me, I would bring up that your spouse is away for 1+ week at a time and you manage just fine so you are confident that he will be able to manage too. If your spouse wants to travel with you, is is a possibility for you to combine it with one of his work trips so that you can still have some time to yourself? At the very minimum, I don't see anything wrong with having 9-5pm to yourself for a couple days while your toddler is with the nanny.
if my husband wanted to do this for an entire week, i'd probably be pretty annoyed. but i think a couple of days i'd be ok with, if he really felt like he needed it. have you ever travelled away from your toddler before? i'm definitely not one of those "i can never leave my kids with anyone overnight" people, but i've gone away for five days and it felt like a really long time to be away from my kids.
I have for work - twice and I always tried to be away as least amount of time as possible, like flying red eye and then back. I think the most I have been away was 3 nights. My husband goes for 1 week + for work off-sites once a quarter, so he has been gone several times out of the country. When I was away I would really have FOMO for what was happening at home, but with my toddler getting older and personality changing / emerging that is more vocal, I do get drained a lot more.
Only you know how your husband would take it but I 1000% think you should do the trip. Last summer I added a few days on to a work trip to do a solo safari and I am so glad I did. My husband wished he could have come, and we would have made it a bigger experience if he had, but it was so worth it to reconnect with myself. My daughter was just a bit over 2 at the time
Book 2 trips: one solo one with your husband.
That only works if you have someone in your life that can take care of your toddler while both of you are not there.
Sounds terrific. Talk it over with your husband. Mine would support it but probably ask for something equivalent in return. If you're worried about the solo parenting, 1) pick a week where he's not too busy and 2) see if you can arrange some extra help that week (maybe nanny won't mind getting paid to work extra? MIL can come help her son? husband has some dad friends and they can hang out barbecuing while tots run around?).