I can’t fully express how much I love everything about this post. Where you are using writing, I’m diving deep into yoga and writing and creativity and femininity and wild woman and life and motherhood and it feels so nourishing and affirming to know that you’re on this path right next to me even though you are where you are and I’m here in Northern Virginia creating, learning, seeking, and being. 🙌 sister 🙂
Thank you for loving everything about this, it felt scary to write and share! Northern Virginia isn’t too far from me! So glad to not be walking this path alone.
Hi Emma, I appreciate your perspective on this, in part, because it is different from my own experience. I think that is, in part, because I 100% did not think of myself as a creative person prior to motherhood or early in motherhood, so I actually think that ultimate creative activity of creating new life was like planting a creative seed in me that too years to bloom. In that way, I think of motherhood as integral to my development as a creative person. Blessings to you on International Women’s Day!
YES, I didn’t think I was creative before becoming a mother. I had experiences with creativity but it was not the same as what I am experiencing and walking through now. I hope you have a beautiful International Women’s Day!
First, so honoured to be acknowledged in your essay Emma.
This is a beautiful twist - to ask about who I am without the label of mother. I hadn’t considered this before in terms of a label, in fact I’ve recently come to embrace Mother as a title, because I’d avoided the vulnerability of it for almost 3 years.
But I love this enquiry, for me it’s like simply asking ‘who am I?’ And yes creativity is at the core of this answer, although I don’t have a definite answer!
I connect SO deeply with your vision on the cliff top, I have a very similar one, also with my child close by, it’s like freedom is there, in the wildness, in the motherhood, in nature, in my body, and my expression is unhindered.
Thank you for connecting me back to this vision! I wonder how many other women have a similar vision too?! X
I would love to know other women who have a similar vision!! I am saving that for something, I’m not sure what! Yes, yes, yes. I also understand avoiding claiming mother as a title because of the vulnerability, I feel that.
I resonate so deeply with these words you shared. I’m learning that reconnecting to myself is the only way I can live! I see that it’s helping me be a kinder, more patient and present human, not just to my partner and children but to the world. And I don’t think I would have met this version of myself had I not become a mother.
Thank you for inviting into this piece of your world, Emma 🫶
Since I have had the space to start writing again I have had a feeling of belonging to myself, not just my children.
When I feel the most feminine is always when I am naked in nature. Skinny dipping in the sea or dancing in the forest. Stripped bare to my essence and wild. This is how I connect to my vitality, sensuality and creativity. Stripping all the layers away and getting back to my essence
Ah, yes—I’ve had this urge within the past 24 hrs after facing some ptsd symptoms/situations. I want to FEEL the earth below and around me! Mother to us all. Thank you for sharing.
"We have been sold a lie about losing ourselves in motherhood. I think motherhood is an opportunity to find ourselves. I think motherhood is an opportunity to face ourselves". Absolutely! It is an opportunity for growth in so many different spheres of our life we would have never, previously imagined. Only for that to happen, we need a lot of support and guidance not to succumb into just "being a mum".
“There is not a lot of energy left to live when you have to find a way to survive.”
Yes. Yes. I’ve felt this keenly the past five years. But I, too, am returning. Creating. What a long and beautiful and terrible journey it is.
Have you heard of Jeannine Ouellette’s memoir, The Part That Burns? Her story sounds similar to yours. You might appreciate hearing from another woman whose motherhood opened up a portal to the past and has since set her free. Take care, though. Read when you are ready. ❤️
Thank you for sharing with such vulnerability and such hope.
It sounds vaguely familiar, I will look it up. I find reading things close to my experience help and hurt all at the same time! You are so welcome for sharing. Thank you for being here!
I don’t think I can convey all I want to in a comment here… this post is EVERYTHING… truly truly beautiful and raw and reminds me of just how creativity and motherhood and life are all just one big piece of art and who needs a label… we are Earth and sky and stardust and tears and joy and all of it mixed together and there is no label that could ever capture our wholeness. We just ARE. We are alchemy in motion. We are ART. We are heART!!! Gushing over this post. Truly. Xxxx
You are making me feel all of the things! Yes, yes, yes, there is no label that could ever capture our wholeness! Thank you for being here and always hearing me!
Oh wow Emma, I related to so much of what you said about creativity/femininity being the way in which we live rather than being separate from us, and also how the two are linked. As I decided to slow down, nourish and reconnect to myself and the seasons/cycles within and around me that I was able to find strength and softness in the feminine. Since becoming a mother, creativity has been a solace and support, in the space I manage to find as my children grow but for a long time it was just finding the fullness of expression that you mention within the everyday. I am so sorry to read what you went through as a child, sending much love xx
Beautifully written Emma, I really resonated with you finding your wild woman… yes I felt her in birth and motherhood too. But I truly found mine in menopause and am so grateful for these portals back to ourselves
The more and more I hear that from older women, the more excited I become for menopause. But also, trying not to rush time and appreciate what I am learning right now. Thank you for being here!
I can’t fully express how much I love everything about this post. Where you are using writing, I’m diving deep into yoga and writing and creativity and femininity and wild woman and life and motherhood and it feels so nourishing and affirming to know that you’re on this path right next to me even though you are where you are and I’m here in Northern Virginia creating, learning, seeking, and being. 🙌 sister 🙂
Thank you for loving everything about this, it felt scary to write and share! Northern Virginia isn’t too far from me! So glad to not be walking this path alone.
Hi Emma, I appreciate your perspective on this, in part, because it is different from my own experience. I think that is, in part, because I 100% did not think of myself as a creative person prior to motherhood or early in motherhood, so I actually think that ultimate creative activity of creating new life was like planting a creative seed in me that too years to bloom. In that way, I think of motherhood as integral to my development as a creative person. Blessings to you on International Women’s Day!
YES, I didn’t think I was creative before becoming a mother. I had experiences with creativity but it was not the same as what I am experiencing and walking through now. I hope you have a beautiful International Women’s Day!
First, so honoured to be acknowledged in your essay Emma.
This is a beautiful twist - to ask about who I am without the label of mother. I hadn’t considered this before in terms of a label, in fact I’ve recently come to embrace Mother as a title, because I’d avoided the vulnerability of it for almost 3 years.
But I love this enquiry, for me it’s like simply asking ‘who am I?’ And yes creativity is at the core of this answer, although I don’t have a definite answer!
I connect SO deeply with your vision on the cliff top, I have a very similar one, also with my child close by, it’s like freedom is there, in the wildness, in the motherhood, in nature, in my body, and my expression is unhindered.
Thank you for connecting me back to this vision! I wonder how many other women have a similar vision too?! X
I would love to know other women who have a similar vision!! I am saving that for something, I’m not sure what! Yes, yes, yes. I also understand avoiding claiming mother as a title because of the vulnerability, I feel that.
“Becoming a mother has invited me back to myself”
I resonate so deeply with these words you shared. I’m learning that reconnecting to myself is the only way I can live! I see that it’s helping me be a kinder, more patient and present human, not just to my partner and children but to the world. And I don’t think I would have met this version of myself had I not become a mother.
Thank you for inviting into this piece of your world, Emma 🫶
Thank you for being here. I hear you and I see you.
Thank you, as always, for your honest sharing.
Since I have had the space to start writing again I have had a feeling of belonging to myself, not just my children.
When I feel the most feminine is always when I am naked in nature. Skinny dipping in the sea or dancing in the forest. Stripped bare to my essence and wild. This is how I connect to my vitality, sensuality and creativity. Stripping all the layers away and getting back to my essence
Ah, yes—I’ve had this urge within the past 24 hrs after facing some ptsd symptoms/situations. I want to FEEL the earth below and around me! Mother to us all. Thank you for sharing.
Writing has definitely been a portal into remember I belong to myself too. Yes to being naked in nature!
"We have been sold a lie about losing ourselves in motherhood. I think motherhood is an opportunity to find ourselves. I think motherhood is an opportunity to face ourselves". Absolutely! It is an opportunity for growth in so many different spheres of our life we would have never, previously imagined. Only for that to happen, we need a lot of support and guidance not to succumb into just "being a mum".
Oh it requires so much support and guidance!
“There is not a lot of energy left to live when you have to find a way to survive.”
Yes. Yes. I’ve felt this keenly the past five years. But I, too, am returning. Creating. What a long and beautiful and terrible journey it is.
Have you heard of Jeannine Ouellette’s memoir, The Part That Burns? Her story sounds similar to yours. You might appreciate hearing from another woman whose motherhood opened up a portal to the past and has since set her free. Take care, though. Read when you are ready. ❤️
Thank you for sharing with such vulnerability and such hope.
It sounds vaguely familiar, I will look it up. I find reading things close to my experience help and hurt all at the same time! You are so welcome for sharing. Thank you for being here!
I don’t think I can convey all I want to in a comment here… this post is EVERYTHING… truly truly beautiful and raw and reminds me of just how creativity and motherhood and life are all just one big piece of art and who needs a label… we are Earth and sky and stardust and tears and joy and all of it mixed together and there is no label that could ever capture our wholeness. We just ARE. We are alchemy in motion. We are ART. We are heART!!! Gushing over this post. Truly. Xxxx
You are making me feel all of the things! Yes, yes, yes, there is no label that could ever capture our wholeness! Thank you for being here and always hearing me!
Always. Xx
Oh wow Emma, I related to so much of what you said about creativity/femininity being the way in which we live rather than being separate from us, and also how the two are linked. As I decided to slow down, nourish and reconnect to myself and the seasons/cycles within and around me that I was able to find strength and softness in the feminine. Since becoming a mother, creativity has been a solace and support, in the space I manage to find as my children grow but for a long time it was just finding the fullness of expression that you mention within the everyday. I am so sorry to read what you went through as a child, sending much love xx
Thank you ❤️ there is so much strength and softness in the feminine when we slow down enough to pay attention and notice it.
Beautifully written Emma, I really resonated with you finding your wild woman… yes I felt her in birth and motherhood too. But I truly found mine in menopause and am so grateful for these portals back to ourselves
The more and more I hear that from older women, the more excited I become for menopause. But also, trying not to rush time and appreciate what I am learning right now. Thank you for being here!
Yes enjoy the season you are in right now❤️