L for Liberation - From Womanhood to Motherhood

My blog turns 7 today,

My son turns 4 today,

My daughter completes 6 months today,

And it has been a liberating feeling having raised the three this far!

That’s the irony! In spite of the many little confinements motherhood imposes on me, I feel liberated after all!

Liberated Motherhood — Source: Discover Society

Over the years, woman gradually move from their active mothering phase to passive spectators as the children grow up to their individualselves. And one day, what will remain of their tedious years of running around the children is nothing! The children are going to get busy with their lives. The husband will be the husband always. Nobody else would care about the mother she was. So, what does motherhood really mean to a mother, years later? It only means that she was there, she was there, she was always there. Eventually, she learns to accept that being a mother isn’t tied to a give-and-take policy. No matter how life changes with time, she shall never be confined within a world of expectations with matters of her children.

Sometimes, I compare the woman I used to be a few years ago and the present version of me. Becoming a mother has certainly filled the gap that uncertainty and inadequacy had left in my personality. There’s a grip in life now. I am not clueless of where I am going. I have a focus and the focus are my children. Every other uncertainty has become null. Children also cover the inadequacy that life can push us down with, sometimes. Having two little hearts around, full of affection and wanting me, it feels so absolutely liberating that inadequacies fail to exist.

There’s a difference between womanhood and motherhood. Motherhood can liberate us from womanhood by making us understand a lot more about the battles that can go within the people around us. Irrespective of the gender, difficult emotions can plague one’s heart. While raising a boy, I realize sometimes, being a man or acting like a man isn’t as easy as it seems to from outside. It’s a delicate living of hiding your vulnerability and facing life with strength. Believe me, I can see this in my four year old son. Raising a man isn’t easy either. Mothers go a step beyond the gender perceptions when they begin to see the human made of emotions within, liberating the barriers of womanhood.

The most liberating feeling as a mother is the ability to see my children in other children. Today, I saw a boy crying in the temple. As a woman I could have passed him by with the ‘What’s my problem’ attitude. But, as a mother I immediately stopped by him to ask why he was crying. I felt that it was my responsibility to make sure that the child was safe. No wonder motherhood have been always associated with universal love!

Have you too felt liberated being a mother? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Here’s a list of the other posts in this series:

A for Attachment – That something I wasn’t prepared for!

B for Baby Blues – Beyond Pushes & Stitches

C for Cheerfulness – It’s a lovely sunny morning!

D for Disorientation – How did the cooker weight reach the lego box?

E for Embarrassment – My 5 most embarrassing moments as a mother

F for Frustration That life isn’t the same afters kids

G for Guilt – 5 killer guilts of motherhood

H for helplessness – To see him struggle but can do nothing

I for Insecurity – Are my children safe?

J for (Being) Judged – Please tell me then, what makes a good mom?