Cate x
As a total ‘Jane’ (you could have been describing me, except add in that I was also doing mummy and baby yoga, gymbaroo, baby massage and post natal pilates… no wonder I was exhausted all the time) I also had a lightbulb moment at a talk you gave at glen eira town hall 3 years or so ago. After a mchn told me ‘we have a special chapter in the handbook for lawyers and doctors turned mothers – it’s titled ‘lower the bar and go easy on yourself for a little while” and reading your book, everything changed for the better. Suddenly it all clicked.
Endured 2 bouts of mastitis and ongoing pnd but kept feeding and bonding with my little fella and listening to my heart, not my head, despite this being quite a strange thing for me to do. I will admit now that I still probably did way too much thinking and doing and ‘shoulding’ but the habits that served me so well to that point were really hard to break!
At those 3am feeds I used to think about all those other mums out there across Melbourne and Australia nurturing their babies too. What an empowering moment for women everywhere.
My baby is now a rambunctious, engaging and confident 3 year old and I’m juggling the demands of a super busy legal practice with being his mummy but we are doing it our way. Pyjama days rule at our place.
I’m going to be recommending your TED talk far and wide. I see many women struggling with the many changes of motherhood in my profession and I hope this will give them some insight into the reality that they are enough.
Please keep doing your amazing work. You really have made and continue to make a difference.
