Tag Archives: acceptance

A Mum Was Born Too

Posted in parenting by

“A Mum Was Born Too”

Oh! Congratulations, you’ve become a mum,
However you got here, come join in the fun.
It’s really the most natural thing in the world
And women have done it forever you know…”

“So why then, please tell me, for many of us,
Do we struggle and worry and panic and fuss?
How come it all comes so easy to YOU?
And how does SHE always know just what to do?

Why do I feel like a haven’t a notion
No matter how long I’ve been swimming this ocean?
Why does it never seem so obvious
If what I am doing is the right thing for us?

Why, even though I’ve been Mumming for years,
Can zipping a coat up reduce me to tears?
Why do I spend my whole day so uptight
Convinced that nothing I do could be right?

Why does it feel, that for all of my thinking
That I’m possibly, certainly, definitely sinking?
How can ‘the most natural thing in the world’
Continuously spin me and throw me in whirls?”

Well, stop and I’ll tell you, you beautiful lady
We all have these days with our beloved babies.
And no matter what age they are; wee tots to teens,
They test us and try us all the days in between,

And as for you asking why you find it tough?
You’re not on your own, we all have it rough.
Remember that day that your child came to you?
Well remember that day, that a Mum was born too.

The first little cry that announced their arrival,
Set YOU on a path to ensure their survival,
You instantly put yourself second and third
And started to navigate through this new world.

You nurtured and cared and you directed their way
Through the phases and stages and good and bad days,
But while you are focusing on helping them through,
Did you stop to consider that Mums are new too?

We’re all learning daily. And we all make mistakes.
We all doubt ourselves and we all need our breaks.
We need to go easy and give ourselves credit.
We’re all writing books we have no chance to edit.

So don’t look at others and start to feel bad.
And don’t beat yourself up if a day turns out bad.
Give them a hug and take a deep breath,
And give yourself credit for doing your best.

There’s no graduation. There’s no interview.
There’s suddenly more love than you ever knew.
And nothing prepares you for what is to come,
Each day that our kids grow and learn, so does Mum.

Maria Rushe
2020

New Year, New You..’re Grand as You Are Love.

Posted in Being Me, parenting by

Before the onslaught of New Year, New You Bullshit starts, let me remind you of a few things…

Firstly, this year is different for SO MANY REASONS.

We’re NOT bouncing blindly into a spangly, shiny, glitterific new year full of potential and opportunity.

We’re dipping our sore wee toes tentatively into another lockdown and we’ve just come through the most challenging year of our lives.

We are NOT unscathed.

We are NOT okay.

We are NOT full of oblivious notions.

We are however armed with knowledge and hindsight and there is absolutely hope that this shitsorm is in its last flurry.

And we are all looking forward to allowing 2021 to be better than 2020.

Positivity and looking ahead are all we have right now. And we have to clutch onto them as hard as we can.

Yes, January 1st is a good starting point for new beginnings and new intentions.

Just like everything ‘starts on Monday’, at this time of year, we are all so good at using ‘I’ll start in the New Year’ as our mantra.

New project? I’ll start in January…
New intention? I’ll start in January…
Giving up something? Wait until January…
Starting something? Wait until January…
New routine? I’ll start in January…
Want to change something? Wait until January…

Good intentions eh?

NEED to change something? Wait until January?
And suddenly, what SEEMS like a good intention is ACTUALLY just procrastination.

And we’re all good at that.

Of course the New Year is usually a great time for motivation and change and new everything. And it still can be this year.

However, if you are changing something because someone or something is making you feel like you’re not good enough, stop and think.

Over the past few days, our news feeds are full of adverts which seem to be encouraging and “motivating” you.

You see all sorts of quick fixes and miracle makers; everything from programmes and apps to help to start or stop a habit, to magic pills and shakes which will transform you into a Victoria Secret’s model faster than you can take a poo… (which is precisely what you’ll be doing if you take any of that crap.)

What we need to remember is that EACH and EVERY one of these adverts has been TARGETED at us.

They’re not popping up on our screens by accident.

They’re targeted by the companies; our age, interests, demographic, location, previous searches… it’s all algorithm and it’s simple and clever marketing.

Most of the ads are genuine companies who know their target markets and how to target them effectively at the right time, in the right way.

There’s no conspiracy in that.

Where we have a problem is when the companies are telling you, usually indirectly, sometimes bluntly, that YOU are not good enough AS YOU ARE.

They tell you you NEED to look a certain way. You NEED your teeth whitened.
You NEED to lose weight.
You NEED to calm down.
You NEED to change your mindset.
You NEED to spend less time or more time on whatever…
You NEED to eat this way.
You NEED to take this…
You NEED to take that.

They tell you that your life is incomplete.

They tell you that your life is mediocre.

They tell you that your life could be soooooo much better.

Yeah. No shit Sherlick. But it won’t get better by buying the utter shite you’re selling.

They go so far as to show you “Real people”, their case studies, their Before and Afters. They put only the Glossy, filtered, Instaperfect images of their customers/clients on their websites.
They tell you that YOU TOO could have this life…that it is SOOOO easy.

They smugly imply that it really is a breeze, that if you join their gang/cult/whatever that you will also have shiny, filtered, smiling instafeed in as little as 10 days.

By showing you these glossy smiling examples, they are indirectly telling your that YOUR life is actually pretty shitty in comparison.

They are hitting you during the Post Christmas bloat, the gray Pre-January blur when family members have left and the tree is molting in the corner and we’re all feeling a bit ‘meh‘.

They are telling you that you are not enough.
They are wrong.

You are perfect, just as you are.
You are beautiful, just as you are.
You are strong.
You can face anything.

You HAVE faced EVERYTHING this year.

You are loved.
Your life is YOUR life and it should not be measured by anyone else’s prepackaged and filtered measuring tape.

Sure, we all have things we aspire to, resolutions an intentions.

If you want to change something, do it.

If you want to get healthier, do it.

If you want to lose weight, go for it.

If you want to make a drastic change to your routine, go for it.

But ONLY do it FOR YOU.

Not because some advert on your news feed tells you you are not enough.

Do it for YOURSELF. AND if anyone of the smug, shiny, “Look at how perfect my life is” brigade tells you they can “Make you the BEST version of YOU,” tell them to feck off.

You’re doing a great job of being YOU, all by yourself.
You don’t need to buy a lifestyle from anyone. You don’t need a NEW YOU.

You just need to realise that you’re already as YOU as you can be.

And you look pretty damn perfect to me.
😘