When I became a mother, something inside me blossomed.
You see, before I became pregnant with my daughter, I wasn’t sure that “mothering” was the right thing for a woman like me. I had a list of reasons why, reasons that sounded something like this —
- “I’m creative, and I absolutely savor my alone time.”
- “My husband and I are older.”
- “I’m not sure I’m capable of deeply nurturing a child. And am I capable of truly sticking to such a huge commitment?”
A beautiful remedy of biology and faith healed me of my motherhood fears. The magic started when I became pregnant, for I was filled with tremendous wonder. How could my body – a body infused with a chemotherapy drug so toxic it is no longer administered in the high cumulative doses I received twentysome years ago — how could that kind of a body “work right” and actually produce a child?
Somehow, it did.
As my belly grew, I embraced the strange magic of pregnancy. Then, after my daughter was born, I sat with her for endless hours, drunk on oxytocin, intoxicated by the scent and unspeakable aliveness of her newborn baby skin.
I surrendered to being a mom.
And in that surrender to experience…I let life change me.
Have you had a watershed experience in your life, one that invited you to be in your life in an entirely new way? Perhaps you had a child or launched a business. Perhaps your shift came through loss, like the end of a relationship, the end of your health-as-you-knew-it, or the death of a parent or someone you dearly loved.
When life shifts profoundly, it’s difficult not to let life change you, isn’t it?
Today I invite you acknowledge all you’ve walked through. I invite you to ask yourself, too, if you’re:
- Feeling happy?
- Pursuing work you find meaningful?
- Passionately producing a book, a speech, a play or a new project?
- Glowing with that confidence that comes from walking through something big, and then sharing what you’ve learned to help others?
- When life shifts, it’s often not just the “big thing” we’re walking through that deepens our aliveness. It’s our response to the shift — our courage to own our authority, to articulate our dreams, to write, create and communicate – from the heart.
It’s time to do something meaningful and courageous with your experience.
