Mothering is Work

Hey, everyone, it's Alexandra. Hope you're having a great day. So today's video is on mothering, and mothering is work. And in my last video, setting your priorities straight, I was talking about taking time. I was gonna be more engaged in work, and I made the decision to not be more engaged with work and spend more time with my son. And the last couple days, I've been thinking about this idea that it's more appreciated in our culture if you are working, if you can. I did this in a day, and there's this idea with moms and people who are mother women who are mothering that they're not working. But I want to say before, and I know all the mothers out there will agree with me that mothering is hard work. It is the hardest work I have done so far. It is. It's intense and amazing and awesome and challenging and full on. So for me to say that I'm not gonna go back to work and I'm just hanging out with son, it's not all fantabulous all the time. It is. It challenges me more than anything has ever challenged me. And it's causing me to be a better human being, and it's causing me to be on my game. And yes, it is. It's work. It is hard work. And the thing about mothering is that at 5 or 6pm when some people get off their job, they're done working. Mothering doesn't end. It's a 24, 7 on call job. So that has taken some getting used to on my end. But it's. It's intense. It is. It's. You have to be so committed. And there's no vacation time either. I laugh about this sometimes. Some mornings I joke and I'm like, you know, I just want to take the day off today. I just want to lay in bed and read and just do whatever I want to do. And that's not an option in the mothering gig. So it's. It's. I also think with the mothering, why so many people want to go to job is that you get appreciation. You. You look at what you did in the day, you did this task and you got this accomplished. And there's this feeling of accomplishment and achievement. And with mothering, you might get to the end of the day and you're like, what did I do today? Really? What did I do? There's dishes in the sink. I didn't really cook much. I might still be in my pajamas. So what did I do? And I think it's really important that us as mothers, and this has been my practice to really appreciate what I am doing, really honor what I am doing. The things that I'm doing right now for my child, I'm not gonna see the fruits of my labor for a while, probably. Like, he's so new. But these things that I'm doing with him, the mothering that I'm doing with him every single day impacts who he's gonna be as a human being. And it's so, so, so important and cannot be overlooked. So I feel like in our culture there's, you know, she's just a stay at home mom. Just a stay at home mom. Let me tell you that just the stay at home mom is amazing. She is awesome. And she deserves an award every single day. She does. And we don't get that as mothers. Nobody's like, if I teach a class, people send me an email and say, oh, that's so great. I really loved it. And, you know, share the love in that way. Nobody's gonna send me an email at the end of the day of me mothering my son and saying, you know, you rock. You're so awesome. You did such a great job breastfeeding all day. I'm just, you're not gonna get that attention and that love and appreciation. So I think as mothers, we need to appreciate ourselves and really have it be intrinsically motivated that. That what we're doing does make a difference and that we are working hard and to not think that you're not working if you're not going to a job. We are. We are working hard. I know I keep saying that, but it's true. I have such admiration for women and mothers that really give their children the time that they need and to really step up and to give of yourself, even if you're tired and exhausted, it takes something you have to have stamina and endurance and courage and power and love and so many things that, yeah, I'm just very inspired by mothers. And I want all of us to really appreciate ourselves and really acknowledge what we are doing. We are raising human beings. We are raising the next generation. Like, who we are with our children is who they're going to be in the world. And it's so inspiring to think that we can make a difference in the world by raising our children in healthy and happy ways. So that is. That's what I wanted to share today. So mothering is amazingly hard work. And all of you mothers out there, rock, rock, rock, rock the house. And I'm sending you love and appreciation for all that you do every single day that people may not notice because it matters, you matter and you're fantabulous. Alright, have a wonderful day and thanks for watching.