Whenever we think of the word “motherhood”–or, at least, when I do– we are instantly filled with pure, honest and beautiful moments that are eventually strung into memories that hold a special place in our hearts. We get excited to share new experiences with our children and of course–document those moments so that we will always have that physical remembrance for our children to reflect back on them.
This is all part of the journey.
The modern day motherhood aspect of this results from the need, the want, the constant impulse to automatically share those moments and not fully living them out. We are living in the age of the “now” where waiting isn’t an option and sharing later is out of the question.
I have been struggling lately with this term–modern day motherhood–and trying to figure out what it means to me. Sometimes I feel like I’m not fully living every moment with my family like I should because of this need to want to share it with the world as it’s happening– before I have even fully digested these moments myself. The experience is shifting, and I don’t think it’s for the better.
It doesn’t all come down to social media, but everything really. We are living in an age whenever everything operates under the category of “urgent,” and because of that we place an added pressure to everything that we do. Because of the impact of this pressure on us, we feel nothing but guilt during moments of relaxation that we are taking for ourselves.
Motherhood is tough.
Generations ago things were different, and the role of a mother was to simply be a mother. End of discussion. As the years pass, more and more expectations keep piling up on and we accept them because we are always trying to prove that we can do it. But who are we trying to prove it to? Our spouses? Peers? Probably mostly ourselves, but we end up exhausting ourselves in the process.
Even if we try to live a more simplistic motherhood lifestyle it can be hard. We try to turn our devices off at a certain time of day, eliminate anything negative, keep a work/life/family/relationship balance–but it’s all a juggling act. I suppose that if we had the opportunity to go back in time and try out motherhood from the 1930’s or so, we would experience the different pressures that they had, as varied as coal cellars, wringer washing machines that you had to feed clothes into piece by piece, and the enormity of the Great Depression.
So I guess what I’m saying is…whatever the challenges of the era, focus on what’s important. Live each experience fully. Laugh a little bit more.
These are things I keep trying to remind myself lately–and honestly–it scares me a little bit that I even need this reminder. These are basic concepts that should have become an innate part of my life, but living a life with so many modern day distractions tends to pull one away from these very basic concepts.
I suppose that it’s all part of this journey that we embark on the moment that we find out we are pregnant. During those months when we are walking around with our swollen pregnant belly, we begin dreaming of all the different ways we will be a mother. The experiences we will give our children, what we will teach them, how we will parent, how they are going to grow up into amazing adults because of all of these great things we did and gave them through life–and then the baby is born.
Once we take our wee one home from the hospital, the task of merging our motherhood dreams with reality begins, and our motherhood journey really starts.
What does modern day motherhood mean to you?
Fashionably Yours,
Allison
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