Convenience, luxury, youthfulness - what do you imagine when you think of the lifestyles of high-earning city dwellers? Maybe you aspire to live this same way? Perhaps you already do!
Nature is often glamorized in this same way, polished and trimmed for our pleasure and enjoyment. We have all heard the health value of connecting with nature, as if to acknowledge that we want to be separate, but not too separate.
This separation has led us down the biggest lie of the ages, one that has put as at odds with ourselves and each other. That decay is a necessary part of the process.
I know, it's a harsh truth. Not one that you were necessarily ready to bite off and chew on in this moment. But hear me out.
When a particular plant is ready to grow taller, it sheds the bottom leaves. More nutrition now gets to the top, and the ground below becomes more fertile as a result. What looks like an ending is actually a beginning.
The same is true with birth. You let go of the life you lived as an independent woman, and surrender yourself to the total unknown, total enmeshment. It's both a time of celebration, and a time of sadness. Some know it as loneliness, disillusion or even regret, I call it grief.
The city paints a pretty picture, admiring shiny, new purchases, boasting the latest anti-aging technologies and anti-microbial disinfectants.
Instead, I would like to present you with the honesty of the jungle. The jungle isn't concerned about what it looks like and doesn't compare itself to others. Things grow fast and every which way, and with the same ferocity, will die and decay. There is a rhythm, year after year, a predictability in all of it, even though single incidents appear to be random and chaotic. The same could be said about creating, birthing, and raising a child. Totally random and yet mostly predictable.
Becoming a mom is an absolute jungle. It is honest, raw, and sometimes terrifying. The city can make it seem more charming with it's fancy gadgets and mirrors, but the darkness will set in eventually for each and every one of us. Embrace it. Trust it. Feel into the wisdom of it all, and notice what you're feeling when you're feeling it. Your journey through motherhood is not separate from mother nature. And she is always going to guide you back to yourself.
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