A Mother's Confession to the Woman Hidden Inside Her

I don't think I am alone in facing one of life's great questions:

How do we experience our femininity once we become mothers?

For every mother, FAMILY naturally comes first, and we often place the wishes and needs of our children and partner before our own.

Please do not misunderstand me — most of us do that with love.

Maternal instincts are real.

Yet sooner or later a question appears:

Where do I fit into this picture?

Who thinks about what Mum herself feels?

How difficult certain situations may be for her?

How much energy it takes to solve yet another problem?

As a woman, our role in marriage and family can be the most beautiful and the most demanding task in life at the same time.

We stand in front of our children smiling, hour after hour, even when part of us would rather run screaming away from the whole world.

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Yes.

Those difficult low points exist.

But life's small joys have a miraculous way of bringing light back into ordinary days and carrying us through even the largest challenges.

Every morning and evening, we can be grateful that we are able to experience these wonders:

We are together.

We can spend our days in health and happiness.

Through our children we can witness all the important stages of a human life.

“Maternal love is the one feeling that is not changed by time, distance, or even by whether it is returned.”

Being a mother is one of the most extraordinary things in the world.

And then, as the years pass, we slowly realise that somewhere deep behind MUM there is still a WOMAN.

We still long for love.

Care.

Small gestures.

A few stolen minutes or hours alone with our partner.

We have to rediscover the WOMAN inside ourselves.

Learn our bodies again.

Accept them with their imperfections.

Own them proudly.

And love ourselves as we are.

Real beauty is not only about appearance.

Happiness becomes visible in the face.

Other people also see us as beautiful when we accept ourselves and feel at home in our own skin.

Find time that belongs to you.

Smuggle a few minutes of self-attention into every day.

If you are happy, your family will feel that too.

Allow yourself to grow professionally as well.

Live in a way that means years from now you do not have to say:

“I wish I had done that differently.”

If something feels wrong, change.

Change yourself or change the situation.

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Dare to LIVE.

To experience.

Enjoy.

Be disappointed.

Act.

Or sometimes choose not to act.

Own the consequences of your decisions.

If you fall, stand up and continue with your head high.

Search for your place.

For the place where you feel whole and where your work can also become part of your fulfilment.

The place where you can finally say:

“I've arrived. This is where I belong.”

Love and support your family.

But do not lose yourself while doing it.

“Motherhood is humility. Service and sacrifice. A lifetime of worry. A lesson in self-awareness. Doubt and faith in yourself. Motherhood is a bond. Holding on and letting go. And above all, gratitude. Gratitude toward the person you gave birth to, and toward the person who gave birth to you.”

These words describe motherhood for me better than almost anything else.

And being able to be both MOTHER and WOMAN in the same person is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

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