Motherhood is multilayered. The love for our children is just one layer of the cake.
Motherhood is the loss of the old self, with the anticipation or dread of what is becoming.
Motherhood is the act of being in a trance to keep a little person alive, safe, thriving, and happy.
Motherhood is the pursuit of infinite flexibility while containing possibilities so as not to be consumed by ‘chaos.’
Motherhood has many faces.
The smiling mother is only one, yet we use it to soothe our anxiety, dread, overwhelm confusion, and exhaustion.
The smile masks depression, body issues, medical challenges, shifting relationships, and loss of identity.
Girls are taught to smile.
The world expects girls to be fueled by other’s compliments and other people’s happiness.
When a woman has a straight face, she is often told, “Hey, you should smile.”
So we, as women, have mistaken the mask for a real face.
Women have been trained to smile from a young age. What hasn’t been socialized out of us is our exhale.
When I work with clients, the duration, the sound, the eye closing with the breath becomes the woman’s subconscious cry for help.
The exhale is the body’s way of expelling confusion, toxins, retired hopes, or expired dreams.
Please, be mindful of the exhale.
Please don’t rush to share your news, instead stay silent long enough for her smile to dissolve and her heart to open.
Don’t believe the lie. A women’s body doesn’t return to its pre-baby form and function.
After giving birth, the woman’s body and mind filter old and new elements. Each element vying for a position. The forming of your new essence and capacities isn’t easy; no transformation is.
Conflict and friction will exist. We are tasked to create space, calm, and a pause for those words to be spoken.
We, mothers, are each other’s Village.
The smile is sometimes the tape keeping our soul from tearing.
Too scared to take the smile off or need someone to talk to, give me a call.
