Your Dreams Don’t Stop with Motherhood and Why it’s Time to Write New Ones.
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
2020 has been a year of revealing someone shared with me recently. I couldn’t agree more. This year has revealed good, bad, ugly, and almost everything in between. It has also revealed how my dreams don’t stop with motherhood and why it’s time to write new ones.
Though personally this season has yielded significant God moments for me, it has not come easily. I’ve reclaimed a lot of time with my family, digging deeper into my Word, and reprioritizing – and yet I also realize how little I’m dreaming for me. When Mike asks me what I want to accomplish this year, I struggle to find the words. It’s not that I don’t have dreams, but they’ve been buried under a heap of priorities.
My first excuse is I have four kids. I mean who does anything just five months post partum, homeschooling, and trying to keep everyone alive during a strangely long pandemic. Even with all the reasons I can muster, I know that dreaming and prioritizing myself has felt taboo.
Hello mom guilt…
Somehow goal setting, dreaming, and even pursuing those goals equals neglect. Have you ever felt that way? If I begin focusing on growing this blogging community or starting that marketing endeavor I’m selfishly abandoning being a good mom and wife. But, truthfully that’s a lie too often we hold as moms… and sometimes the basis of why we judge others.
Yet, mama we need to dream. Becoming a mother doesn’t have to mean we lose who we are or always have been. In fact, if we allow it – motherhood and all of its facets can add to all that you are! More and more I see how parenting, growing, and being a mom to four littles has pushed me to do so much more than I imagined. Being a mother has become a part of my why rather than my excuse.
I have to say this epiphany has been several years and babies in the making. The ultimate push was when I connected with an incredible small business and community called Brave Gals. The owner, Judy, is a world changer type of woman and it’s contagious. I received the Moms Can Dream t-shirt and who knew what it sparked in me. Judy didn’t know that I needed a reminder that dreams are worth my time, energy, and passion.
Never limit yourself. You can be a mom and pursue your dreams simultaneously.
So what dreams have been lost lately or ones you’ve pushed aside so motherhood can take up space? Pull out that old journal and revisit a few of them friend. You may be thinking it’s a waste of time, but it’s not. And here’s why… motherhood is NOT the only thing you have to offer yourself, your kids, or the world around you.
Hear my heart clearly. I am beyond blessed to be a mother, however, that’s a part of who I am. I mean it when I say dreams don’t stop with motherhood. Yes, parenting has added tools of multi-tasking, crazy unspeakable love, and the ability to hear through walls – but those are skills and pieces. So when I challenge you and me to think beyond motherhood, it’s because you’re a force to be reckon with friend!
You are a light. A friend. A confidant. A visionary. A creator. Someone special.
Re engage some of those hobbies, interests, and skills that made you excited to try something new. Get connected to a community of other moms who are dreaming. Such areas need to be dusted off, because you can invite motherhood along for that part of the journey too. We often tell our kids than can be anything, but box ourselves in. Our little ones watching will believe they can as they watch you do the same.
It doesn’t have to be something big, but writing down and achieving one dream mama can make all the difference. Help reacquaint you with the woman who is capable of so many thing, including making wonderful humans. You’ve got this, and I’m cheering you on!