We’ve all heard the refrain of “it’s ok to not be ok.”
And, it is. It’s ok to be ok and it’s ok to not be ok. But, what does that really look like?
Permission; surrender; grace.
As expectant and new moms, there are so many things we are supposed to feel. Gratitude we should have. Positives where, for many, there is negative. Or, plainly, nothing at all.
The only thing that is worse than feeling that sadness or that confusion or that empty abyss of nothingness?
Feeling that hard thing when the world around you tells you – insists to you – that you should be feeling happier and more grateful and more alive than ever.
You have new stretch marks?
But you should be so grateful! You should thank your body! It is growing life for you!
You are supposed to like the graffiti of lines sprawling across your stomach because inside of it, in your uterus, you’re growing a new human.
What about dialectical thinking? Isn’t there room to feel grateful for being pregnant and resentful at the fact that your once smooth stomach looks like it was mauled by a tiger?
And stretch marks are just the tip of this emotional iceberg.
It is not only ok to not be ok, it is ok – and, really, great – to be whatever you are. You are dynamic. You are not a baby-producing-robot. Your mood will shift based on life circumstances, hormone levels, the amount of sleep you got last night, the quality of your last meal, and the weather.
So, I implore you to give yourself grace. To accept whatever it is you feel – and why – and know that, like all else, this too shall pass.
XO, Becca
