When we have given birth there grows a deep realisation that everything has changed.⠀
Everything.⠀
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Our bodies, our minds, our beliefs, our homes, our lifestyles, our knowledge of who we are.⠀
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And yet, we are constantly being asked, when we are getting back?⠀
Back into our clothes.⠀
Back into a routine.⠀
Back to work.⠀
Back out with friends.⠀
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It is as though our entire human consciousness is driving us to return to where we were before birth.⠀
Which is of course, impossible.⠀
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We can only move forwards. ⠀
Toward parenthood.⠀
Toward a new body.⠀
Toward a different way of thinking about work and friends.⠀
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I remember when I had my first child how out of my group of friends I was the only one. I was certainly not a young mother but many of my friends had chosen a different path. And it wasn’t until I was so far down my new path that I realised this.⠀
There was no backtracking. My life was now different. It was confusing to me and to many others. But it just was.⠀
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So my advice to you is this. Invest in your mum and dad friends. They are the ones that will be there on WhatsApp at 2 in the morning when you think that you are all alone.⠀
They are the ones that will tether you when you feel the world is unreeling around you.⠀
They’ll get baby brain and clothes with dubious stains on and that something seems to be lost while so much else has just been found. They’ll walk round and round and round the park with you until your baby finally sleeps.⠀
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They will really understand you when you say, …’there is no going back. I’m just moving forwards now.’⠀
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Beautiful photo courtesy of @wild.pregnancy_free.birth