RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader,Does your head also feel like it’s going to explode with the seemingly endless list of things you need to do: sort end of year teacher gifts, buy your mother-in-law’s gift, arrange the Christmas grocery delivery… The pressure to squeeze all the to-dos into what precious kid-free time you have left (when they aren’t already home with the latest winter bug, of course) is real. If your sensitive nervous system is already fried, I see you. And...
12 days ago • 2 min read
RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader, The other night, I burned my finger taking the dinner out of the oven. But it was that pre-dinner chaos, and the kids were hungry, so I just kind of… pushed it to the side and carried on with getting dinner on the table, everyone fed, and cleaning up while my husband bathed our girls. It wasn’t until I lay down in the dark to put my 17 month old to sleep that I noticed the throbbing pain in my finger. It made me think about how so often...
27 days ago • 3 min read
RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader, There’s a side to the load that feels particularly hard: the weight of feeling like nobody really sees you. How immense the load you carry really is. What it takes to show up for your kids everyday without fail, no matter how tired or unwell you are. How hard it is to have nothing left for yourself at the end of the day. How crushing the guilt is when you get overwhelmed and aren’t able to show up as the steady, patient, present mum you...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader, Picture this: You’re sitting on the floor with your child, building a unicorn castle or a racetrack for monster trucks together, when your mind begins to drift. You promised your little one some special one-on-one time playing together, you put aside the to-do list so you could connect, but now that you’re here, you can’t help but feel… restless. You feel the pull of the laundry piled on the dining room table waiting to be folded, the...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader, Here’s the honest truth about why it can feel so hard to prioritise myself in motherhood, as a recovering people-pleaser… (Maybe you relate?) When I decide to do something for myself, I would love if no one was inconvenienced by me doing so. I feel guilty when the baby cries because it’s me she wants, or my toddler asks me to stay. I feel guilty coming back to find my husband overstimulated (even though I would be, too). It would feel...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader, You’re cooking dinner, the kids playing in the next room, when you hear it: Your eldest is frustrated with your youngest for not handing over a toy. He raises his voice... Makes a threat. And your heart sinks as you realise: His words are the exact ones you used with him yesterday, his tone the same one you’d resorted to when he still hadn’t done as you’d asked after the fifth time asking. You lay down the vegetable you’re halfway through...
2 months ago • 2 min read
RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader, The load you carry feels truly inescapable… There is no fairy godmother who’s going to sweep in and take care of the laundry, cooking, and cleaning, even for a day. Your strong-willed child is not going to wake up and decide to suddenly turn go-with-the-flow. The appointments aren’t going to make themselves; the clothing in their drawers won’t magically size-up just because you wished it so. So what really is there to be done but to keep...
2 months ago • 2 min read
RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader, If you want to feel at peace in yourself, present with your kids, and able to genuinely enjoy parenting amidst the chaos, you should know this: How you feel on a day-to-day basis is largely determined by the thoughts running through your head. You’ve felt this. You know those times you’re thinking the worst and focusing on all you lack only make you feel anxious and stuck — so you’ve tried “thinking positive”, “being grateful” and “letting...
3 months ago • 3 min read
RESILIENT IN MOTHERHOOD with KIRSTI GWYNN Hey Reader, The other night, my daughter was refusing to eat her dinner. But shortly after, I had her laughing hysterically and she polished it off bite by bite. What happened? I pretended that her mouth was a soft play centre — each one of the vegetables really wanted a turn jumping on the trampoline (her tongue) and sliding down the slide (her throat) into the ball pit (her stomach). It got me thinking how play really is magic for inspiring our kids...
3 months ago • 2 min read
