On Saturday I ran a mini-retreat for 11 mothers. What struck me most was the shared feeling of having to keep it together; of not being allowed to drop the mask that we put up in motherhood and admit to finding it hard, and consequently not allowing ourselves to feel the hard feelings - or, importantly, to process them.
So many mothers are feeling this way.
Struggling.
Isolated.
Alone.
We are trying to do more than we can realistically do, and we are depleted and weary.
Yet we have internalised the societal narrative that we 'should' be able to do it all.
And as a result we are pushing our feelings ever deeper inside, shutting them away in a duct-taped box marked "to deal with later."
The problem is, shutting down our feelings isn't actually dealing with them. And this approach is damaging to our well-being.
To truly flourish through motherhood we need to be able to drop the mask, to make ourselves vulnerable and share how we are feeling. Connection (especially with other mothers) is key to overcoming the loneliness and isolation that so many of us are feeling, especially post-pandemic.
Do you agree?
Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash
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