for me, motherhood has been a rebirthing. each of my pregnancies and births have been an undoing to rebuild in a different way. each pulling me into a deeper understanding of self.

and as my first child joined us earth side, unresolved issues from my past were brought to light.

parenting does that, doesn’t it?

it shows you all the unhealed parts of yourself.

i found myself being triggered left and right. i felt overwhelmed. overstimulated. exhausted. i found myself reacting in ways i was not proud of. and here was an opportunity to walk the walk after i had learned to talk the talk through my professional experience. with the support of all i had learned, i leaned into the discomfort and began creating ways to manage what was coming up in my mind, body, and soul.

so now, i focus on embracing the tough stuff, humanness in all its messy glory! i focus on adjusting my expectations of myself and my children based on what I know about neurobiology and nervous system regulation. i focus on creating an environment and flow within our days and weeks that supports the enjoyment of all the moments offered by family life. i shed the generational pattern of hierarchical “because i said so” parenting methods and embraced conscious parenting. and i continue to make the choice to walk this path every day. sometimes with great success and other times holding on for dear life. but always with the self-compassion and knowing that the next moment offers a new opportunity for a different choice.

and, most importantly, i focus on my own personal development because this is ultimately what impacts my enjoyment of my parenting experience and my children as a result.

i have always had a deep belief that children are whole, tiny humans who genuinely want to do well (there are no bad kids!) and continue to stick by that. i believe it’s our job as parents to do the work to support our children exactly as they are and get to know ourselves so we can do that to the best of our ability.