You Are a F*cking Awesome Mom: So Embrace the Chaos, Get Over the Guilt, and Be True to You

by Leslie Anne Bruce

Having a baby is a soul-defining experience that will forever change a woman’s life. So, I have to wonder, when did we ever start believing that something so monumental could ever be so easily managed?

I didn’t know the answer, so I did what I always do when I’m petrified: over-research, overanalyze, and overthink. I studied and read everything I could find on infant care to the point of total neurosis. I cross-referenced at least a dozen nursery checklists to make sure I wasn’t missing a single item. It didn’t take a therapist to figure out that I was compensating for my deep insecurity. I planned for the business of becoming a mom, because I was so nervous about actually becoming someone’s mother.

In this new culture of the unicorn mom, we wear our sacrifice as a badge of honor, but I don’t find it all that honorable. Why do we feel the need to compete over who is more exhausted? It’s like the less we do for ourselves somehow equates to us being better moms.