There are so many widely held beliefs around motherhood and moms pursuing their dreams that are false. However, because they have been spread from one generation of mothers to the next they are taken as the truth. Consequently, they hinder moms from pursuing their wildest dreams or fill those that do pursue them with so many feelings of guilt and shame. It is time we unlearn the motherhood myths about pursuing your dreams as a mom! Read on to get started.
Being a mom means that I do not have any free time
If there is one thing about motherhood that I would never hide from you, is the fact that it is demanding (I bet you already know that though). A lot of time is invested in the baby, especially in the early years. And as they grow, there’s school, extracurricular activities, and all the sicknesses they catch in between that leave you pressed for time. With that said, you still have control over how you spend your time in the other areas of your life. You are in control of the amount of time you spent binging on Netflix or on your fav’s YouTube channel. Somebody said that saying “I do not have time” means “That’s not important to me right now”. So I want to challenge you, instead of saying “I do not have time for self-care”, say “self-care is just not important to me right now”. I hope it will help you eliminate the things that are not important, but more importantly, that it will help you realize and prioritize those that are!
Pursuing my dreams will put my kid(s) at a disadvantage, so I should put them on hold until they are grown.
A disadvantage is something that will decrease someone’s chances of success. I believe that as moms, we have our children’s best interest at heart and that we can find ways to pursue our dreams in ways that increase their chances of success. I do not believe that you should wait until your kids are grown to pursue your dreams. Sometimes we hide behind our kids! Life doesn’t have to stop once you become a parent, pursuing your dreams while mothering your children can look however you want to look. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Children are a barrier to success
We all have different definitions of success and this myth suggests that we all have a similar definition. Success is possible with kids in your life!! The picture of a successful life that you had before having children might not be the same picture of success you have after having kids and that is okay. You have to allow yourself to evolve. I remember feeling like I wasted my time in University when I was a stay-at-home mom. That is because my only definition of success was doing work that I studied for and nothing else. Yes, there can be a delay as we take the time to build our families but that doesn’t make children an impediment to success!!
Good mothers can do it all by themselves
This myth contributes so much to moms being stretched too thin and sometimes leads to them abandoning their dreams. I was reading we should all be millionaires, a book written by Rachel Rogers who is a mom. She highlighted having a million-dollar team at home and at work as her secret to success. You cannot do it all and you should not strive to. It is time to stop wearing busyness and burnout as a badge of honor! If you are to bring your best self to all the areas of your life, you need help!
We have a lot of motherhood myths to debunk when it comes to pursuing your dreams as a mom and I hope that this post helps you to begin that journey. These myths have become self-limiting beliefs for so many moms and that has to change. What motherhood myths about pursuing your dreams in motherhood have you had to unlearn.
