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Many mothers recognize this first-time mom experience:
After spending the formative years going to school every day, then pursuing college and/or work interests with notable success, you approach the due date of your first child with every pregnancy/baby-care/child-care/parenting book in hand. You set up the nursery, you register at Target, and life continues on it’s usual course, right up to the delivery day.
And then, WHAM-O! Life is suddenly, shockingly, never the same again.
Your blissful anticipation is met with a dump-truck-load of new responsibilities, many unforeseen and/or requiring skills that you maybe never practiced before. Feeling completely overwhelmed is natural. Still you grow through your experiences and gradually come to feel comfortable in your new life as a mother.
So the question is…
How do you (or did you) come to accept your role as a mother, along with its challenges and responsibilities?
Was your acceptance a gradual process or a moment of decision? Did it require any particular change in perspective or understanding? What helps you to renew your acceptance as the responsibilities evolve over time?
Before I had kids, I kind of knew it was going to be harder than I expected. So when it was hard, I wasn’t surprised, I’d just always figured it would be.
But lately I’ve realized more that mothering is not just an exercise in patience like I thought it was. It’s a mental challenge more than anything. I’ve come to enjoy my role as a shaper-of-lives. My influence is potent, and it is becoming more refined as my kids grow.