Six Lessons from One Year of Motherhood
Today my son turns ONE! They say the years are fast and the days are slow. I’m starting to believe that’s true. Before Jackson was here, I had the idea that I’d jump right back into work and go gangbusters and in fact I’ve been going gangbusters Momming over here. This year I made the conscious and privileged decision to take an extended maternity leave or I like to think I’ve opted for the European approach to maternity leave. I kept my 1:1 clients and my beloved group, theSQUAD, but didn’t open up any additional 1:1 spots – don’t worry that’s changing so stay tuned!
Since a huge focus of my attention has been mothering, I figured I’d share the biggest lessons I’ve learned this year:
Milk is Money -- well not really, but what I noticed throughout my breastfeeding journey is that my relationship to my milk supply was directly correlated to my relationship with abundance. There were many times where I felt like I didn’t have enough supply to feed my child. I felt like I always needed more. The truth is, I’ve always had exactly enough. Just like in life.
Don’t get so caught up trying to have the perfect child that you forget that you already have the perfect child – this was a reminder I heard on Glennon Doyle’s podcast and as a recovering perfectionist, I am super cognizant not to project this onto my son.
Women are F**KING Goddess QUEENS – Most of you probably already know this, but I embarrassingly spent a good portion of my life thinking women were weak. Now I know that couldn’t be further from the truth. This year has taught me that women are the most powerful beings on the planet.
I banned myself from the thigh pinch – We live in a society that values “bouncing back” as quickly as possible after giving birth. I gained over 50 pounds during my pregnancy and so I knew it would take time to get back to my natural weight in a healthy way. I made an agreement with myself that I wasn’t allowed to judge myself or my body for 6 months and at the end of the 6 months if I felt like judging myself again I could. Spoiler alert – I’ve decided not judging myself is the better way AND I lost all the weight in a healthy way.
There is so much more joy in BEING a mother than trying to DO motherhood – I spent the first few months catching myself in the DOING of motherhood. I’d wrack my brain for what I could DO to be the best Mom and it created a spiral of judgement. Once I switched to focusing on BEING a mother, I’ve been able to enjoy the experience so much more. Silliness is a way of being that I’m in a lot of the time with Jackson.
DANCE -- One of the greatest joys in my life is holding my sweet baby boy and doing the waltz around my living room singing “That’s Amore”. Thank God for those wedding dance lessons. If all else fails, we dance. Well sometimes we cry, but mostly we dance.
What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned in Motherhood?
xx