What does it mean to be a mother?
“Everything!”
“Having a purpose”
“Massive amounts of love, pride, worry, resentment and guilt all rolled into a beautiful mess”
Being a mother is about being gentle, caring and loving, fierce, strong and protective.
It’s about patience, trusting your instincts, guiding, teaching, nursing.
Being a mother can be one of your greatest achievements and one of your biggest stresses – it can create pride and a love like no other while also making us want to tear our hair out in frustration.
And along with the momentous, happy moments there can be an irrational guilt that can be overwhelming and makes you question everything you do and everything you have done as a parent.
And this is why mothers need to talk - you need support, you need to share, you need to acknowledge the challenges and how well you are actually doing. It also helps to acknowledge what is going to help you manage any struggles and to look after you.
Being a mother can also be a tough gig, a thankless role where the unseen work goes on behind the scenes. It can be about compromise and change and having to prioritise your family over your career because of finances or childcare.
And your needs may often end up unprioritised – so those personal needs, care, strategies need to be planned in, otherwise they won’t happen.
It helps to talk the demands, the juggles, the stresses and the worries through with someone who isn’t closely involved so you can speak freely and openly, so you can plan and so you can focus more on you.
“It’s like having the pieces of your heart walking around outside of your body”
“To love beyond anything you thought was possible”
“To give everything of yourself to other humans and receive toothpaste smears on your shirt”
What does it mean for you to be a mother?
Janine, working with parents since 2002
janine-smith.com