Hello and Merry Christmas Eve! I hope that you are well and that you are preparing to enjoy this holiday week in a way that feeds your soul.
As I've been recently reminded, on the hard days of motherhood (especially when we are sick or in need of extra assistance), I am always overwhelmed by the blessing community and connection in motherhood is. Over the past two weeks my daughters and I have been fighting the flu and some accompanying infections (everyone is on the mend now, thank goodness!). As we did, friends and family graciously stepped up to help us get well. It is times like these that remind me once again, it truly does take a village.
I hope, that as you gather with your village this Christmas, you are able to look around and register the love and support you have received this year. And acknowledge yourself for the support you've given! Maybe neither in this exact moment ;) Goodness knows, Christmas can bring up a whole host of feelings - some good and some not so good ♥︎ But as you look back on the cumulative experience of this year, I hope you can rest in the irrefutable facts that:
YOU ARE LOVED
YOU BELONG
And that you, my friend, also know how to love others very well.
I'm so glad you're a part of my village! I'm so thankful you've given me permission to write to you each week. And I'm just delighted, that like me, you are prioritizing self growth, consciousness and empowered living. What a beautiful journey we are on! I simply can't wait to share more with you in the new year, including a goal setting series in January that I hope gives you a fresh perspective on that habit and some renewed excitement about how to consciously create your best 2019.
Until then, enjoy your holidays my friend ♥︎
And if you have the time, I'll leave you with this heartfelt note I wrote a little while ago to contribute to a parenting series on Instagram. It is about community and connection in motherhood. I hope you feel encouraged by it and by the other women in your life walking a path much like yours and mine.
“To my fellow mama's: what a role it is, to be entrusted with the care and guidance of these precious and malleable souls. To shepherd them through life. To get to know and be mindful of their truest essence while teaching, modelling, leading and guiding where learning is necessary. It is something we all have within us and yet, something we must also learn as we go. It is a revealing journey for both mother and child. One that's been lived millions of times over but is brilliantly new to each one of us in our OWN time 🌿
It is truly extraordinary, though oddly enough, strung together by countless moments of ‘ordinary’ itself. I feel called to it in the deepest part of my spirit and I know so many of you do as well. And that’s not because it isn’t hard. It is SO hard. Hardest, most meaningful, grittiest work I’ve ever done. Work for which I need truckloads of grace, because the tug and pull on my emotions each day often feels like more than one human being is capable of shouldering.
But its goodness! ITS GOODNESS.
The whole experience is just drenched in goodness, in meaning and in purpose. In growth and humility. What else in this life pushes us and calls us to rise up like motherhood does? I can’t think of anything that comes close, my friend. But here's what I do know. I am immensely grateful to be walking this path and to have you on this journey with me ✨
To all the mothers and grandmothers and the ancestors that came before them. To my brilliant friends, who are so mindful and deeply well intentioned with their own paths of motherhood: I solute you all. I hold close to my heart your collective wisdom and influence in my life. They say it takes a village to raise a child and I agree. But lets add to that. It also takes a village to forge a mama who is wise and ever improving. The strength I have for my journey finds much of its power in the wisdom and strength of the many women in my life who go by ‘mama’. My sincerest love and gratitude to you all. What an especially sweet thing it is….that we get to do this together ✨"
