A Flawed New Year's Resolution

Ahhhh another New Year!  2018!  Another time for New Years Resolutions! 

Fast forward to February and when you ask me what my resolutions are, I can hardly remember.  One I do remember from last year was a goal to blog weekly for my website.  And, if you’ve visited my website lately you’ll see how well that went.  Ha!

So, this year I’m going to resolve to do something a little more attainable.  It’s something I learned from the countless clients I had the honor of serving last year. 

I spend so much time with women who put so much pressure on themselves to do everything just right. To be PERFECT! With a newborn on the way, it can seem like any misstep will impact your baby and your life exponentially.  These are the times as a labor and postpartum doula, I find myself encouraging these strong, beautiful, selfless women to cut themselves a little slack. 

We can spend so much time trying to be PERFECT and miss out on all the beauty in pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and life with a newborn. 

So what if you haven’t gotten the house cleaned today? You’re busy nurturing and protecting the baby in your womb.  Don’t underestimate the energy that takes! 

So what if you missed that newborn photo in the hospital (something that won’t happen if you have a DoBC Labor Doula, by the way)? You were there to experience it and the images, feelings, smells, sounds will be indelibly etched in your mind. 

So what if you haven’t gotten off the couch in two days and feel guilty for the clutter around your house? You have spent this time bonding with and feeding your newborn bundle of preciousness.  All else - laundry, dishes, vacuuming, bed-making - ALL ELSE pales in comparison to the importance of what you’re doing right now. 

My clients, the strong, empowered, breathtakingly beautiful mothers I have been blessed to work with as a doula, have taught me to bring these thoughts into my daily life.  We all need to learn to not be so hard on ourselves. So what if I didn’t blog like I intended to last year? Instead, I was able to be a part of so many beautiful experiences, support so many amazing new mothers, and bring warmth and comfort to so many newborn babies while their parents got some much needed rest.

I’m going to take my own words to these women to heart this year.  Stop trying to be perfect and just embrace who I am.  It’s our imperfections that make us perfect.  Because when I see these women finally accept my words of encouragement, embrace them...WOW!  What an amazing sight to behold!  A mother, unapologetically following her maternal instincts and becoming a stronger, more empowered woman!