I see you, new mama

Dear new mama,

I see you over there, constantly in a state of being worried. I know you are worried about if your baby ate enough, if your baby is thriving or not, if your child is hitting the developmental stages, if they are getting enough sleep, if you should have them cry it out or not...and the list goes on!

And then you have the time when you finally look in the mirror, or see another mom that seems to have all her shit together and you start beating yourself up. You don't understand why you didn't bounce back, you don't understand why that mom of 5 over there doesn't even look like she had one baby, you know summer is coming which only means one thing - BATHING SUIT SEASON - FML. You've tried every freaking diet out there with no success. You have no time for yourself to prepare healthy meals and workout, shoot you barely have time to shower.

I know, I've been there, I've experienced that struggle, and still do so many days. I look at the moms who appear to have their shit together and wonder how the hell they do it. But the truth is, we all have our struggles and our insecurities. We all have our good days when we are owning this motherhood thing and other days where we cannot wait for bedtime to drink a big ol' glass of wine or eat a tub of ice cream because the day totally sucked.

But here is the thing - you are freaking INCREDIBLE! You need time for yourself - even if its only enough time to pee in peace. You need to look at your body and appreciate the fact that it grew that child(ren) and that it holds you up every day even if you aren't paying attention and caring for it. It keeps you going when you are sick (because lets face it, moms don't get sick days). You are BEAUTIFUL!

Next time you start to talk down to yourself, I want you to think about all the amazing, incredible things about YOU. You are the only YOU - no one else is like you - so there has to be several things that are freaking fantastic about you. Learn to love them and hold them to the highest state. Learn to put yourself first (keep a look out for another blog post on suggestions of quick self-care ideas). And lastly - STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER MOMS! We all are struggling - some of us just hide it better than others. <3

xoxo

Sarah