A few weeks ago, I turned on the early news....in my best attempt to wake up ; ) One of the headlining stories was regarding mothers who depend on medication (namely anti-depressants) to help them get through the day with their children. Several days after watching this, I heard some statistics on a podcast that said 40% of American mothers are unhappy and 1/4 of American mothers are clinically depressed. Furthermore, the same podcast stated that there is an increasing trend of "cocktail moms". These are moms who often drink alcohol throughout the day in order to get by.
These statistics shocked and saddened me. I am not pointing fingers at the moms who are doing what they feel they need to do to be "a better mom" because I am definitely not beyond that. So often, survival mode is the name of the game and although I try to opt for more natural means, I truly believe motherhood can bear a very physical, emotional, and mental load on one's self. Not to mention the many hormonal imbalances/changes that come with pregnancy and breastfeeding.
I am more so frowning at the demands our society puts on mothers. It's so easy to get stuck in the cycle between being a "domestic goddess" who dedicates all 110% of herself and her energy to her kids at home and the "I do it all-working professional mother". Either of which can get out of balance.
Our culture puts high standards on women/mothers. Mom's can crumble under the pressure of feeling that we're not professional enough for the professionals and we're not domestic enough for the domestics.
Although there are soooo many amazing women and moms out there....no one person (mom) can be a Martha Stewart hostess, Emril in the kitchen, have a Pinterest home and be a Jillian Michaels in her workout and so on. It's just not possible. The beautiful thing about that is - IT'S OK!! We all have different gifts and talents that we bring to the table that bless our family the way we were created to.
We will never be enough for the demands that society and sometimes even our peers and/or families may put on us. Thankfully, those are not our "measuring sticks". As long as we are loving and serving our family the best we know how and living a life pleasing to God by being who we were created to be as a wife and mother, we are enough. When we can rest in that kind of grace, it sure takes a lot of the pressure off.
(Thanks for joining me today. I've been looking forward to getting back here. Whenever I go missing, I can be found over here.)
Mom, how do you deal with the pressure of the supermom status?
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