What I’ve Learnt… From 10 Years of Mothering.

I’ve learnt so many things it’s hard to start.

I’m not even the same person I was ten years ago, you could say that’s just down to age, but I’d bet my last dollar that most of it is due to being a Mother.

At first you think you won’t get another good night sleep ever again, but by the time you’ve turned around, your kid turns ten.

You spend years being tired in your bones, tired in a way that you didn’t think was possible.

Sometimes you feel so tired and worn out you just want to crawl under the duvet and stay there for a week.

Then you find you can’t sleep past their morning wake time even though THEY can.

Before Mothering I could sleep til 11am, 12pm and even 1pm.

Now I wake up at 7am every day.

Mothers aren’t born overnight and for some of us it takes months and years to settle into our new bigger shoes. And that’s ok.

Becoming a Mother opens up an enormous part of you that you didn’t know existed before.

Your emotions are turned up so high after birth that the beauty and the pain in the world can be hard to bear sometimes.

Empathy becomes visceral.

Kids reset all of what you thought were your natural rhythms.

Every time you think you’ve got your finger on the pulse, the beat changes.

Nothing lasts forever. Every phase, every challenge, every moment of absolute bliss rolls in and rolls out again.

They bring you kicking and screaming into the present moment.

This is the only place they exist. 

And one of the greatest gifts they give you, although it doesn’t always feel like it.

Your children ground you to the earth.

They give you purpose like you never imagined possible.

You have to get your shit together quick.

There’s no more messing around wondering what to do with your life anymore.

They make you want to be the best version of yourself.

The love grows every day, every month, every year.

It’s a strange thing to have your heart go walking around outside your body.

And in the end your unconditional love for them is the making of you.