mama guilt

How to manage the mama juggle...

How to manage the mama juggle...

Breakfast prepared and wolfed down? Check. Teeth washing/hair brushing/face cleaning/bag packing supervised? Check. Snacks/games kits/coats and shoes dished out? Check. School run done and dusted? Check. And it’s not even 8.30am.

Now all that remains is to deal with the carnage that has been left behind before getting on with YOUR stuff. Sound familiar?

It’s not exactly the most calming start to the day.

And yet if you are an ambitious, multi-tasking mama who also either runs her own business or works for someone else, this is just part of the course. It’s called the MAMA JUGGLE.

Its just one more responsibility that was secretly allocated to you when you unwittingly signed the Motherhood Contract (from which you are never allowed to resign): managing the house and all of its contents, their upkeep and emotional wellbeing…

The question is, how do you manage it successfully?

Going on a mama sabbatical and why naked, wild swimming made me cry...

Going on a mama sabbatical and why naked, wild swimming made me cry...

And this, I learnt, is what being wild means. Not just the outdoor camping, the cooking on an open fire and the lack of electricity but the unfurling of the constrictions that we unknowingly place upon ourselves. Being wild means peeling back the layers of conditioning, being untamed, unfettered and giving yourself the permission to be messy rather than permanently nice, neat, kind, happy, caring, good and flexible. It means trusting that what you are feeling IS who you truly are and that you don't in fact need to fit in. In essence, being wild means revelling in the freedom to be yourself. 

Duties versus needs? Welcome to mama guilt!

Duties versus needs? Welcome to mama guilt!

Today I'm feeling guilty. That special kind of guilty that only mamas feel. The kind that implies that you are not doing what you should be doing, that you are putting yourself first before the kids, that the kids are your duty and therefore somehow you have failed and above all, that you are selfish.