Having two children of my own, I personally know the need for support as mothers navigate the postpartum period. When you give birth and become a mother your life changes in an instant. There is a sense of loss around the life you lived before and all the responsibility that comes with shifting into motherhood. The weight mothers carry is heavy and not always seen. Recently, as I have been sitting across from mothers and I continue to hear the same words spoken, “I feel like I have to carry everything.” Here is a letter to the ones who feel like they have to carry it all:
You carry it all on your shoulders. The small details and the big picture. The logistics of each day, the school events, the childcare, the food everyone will eat, the details no one else seems to remember.
Your work schedule, your responsibility to others. A means to help provide for your family.
You carry it all.
Your own emotions, their big emotions. Life transitions, loss, collective grief.
You carry it all.
Does your mind ever stop holding it all? Even when someone says “let me do that for you?”, can you truly release it?
You carry it all.
What would it feel like to set it all down? Could your body release? Would you be able to take a breath- deep in your soul? Is it even possible?
Maybe it’s ok to name all you are holding. The weight of everything you carry.
Maybe you can name that you want to set it all down, that you are weary and your body is tired.
Maybe you can name that you are longing for someone to help share the burden. That you crave a space to heal, grieve, and breathe deep.
I wonder if it could be freeing just to name; “I have been trying to carrying it all.”