A Mother's Intuition

They say a mother’s intuition is stronger than any other bond.

My mum has seen it all. I was the eldest and only girl and then came along three boisterous boys.

Many people have mums just like this or are mums themselves. Unfortunately many have also lost their mums or they live far away and there are also many people in this world with deep emotional trauma over the way they were raised.

This is just a story about my mum.

The tiger mumma, the mumma who loves her children fiercely, unconditionally and would never give up on them, especially in their tough times.

When she was young, self care and mental health wasn’t a thing. It wasn’t even a thing when we were young!

You just got in and did what you had to do. At 10 years old, she was often looking after her siblings and cooking dinner, while her parents were busy in the dairy shed on their farm.

Even when I was young, growing up in Tassie, mental health was taboo and, more than often, swept under the carpet.

We were never given tools to practice self care. We didn’t even know if the mental health resources were available if we’d needed it.

And yet mum was the one who sensed I needed serious help before I did. A mother’s intuition.

She visited me every day in hospital, she bought me journals and books to read and flowers.

Even when she had a million other things to do, she was always there for me. I asked my mum about self care and she says now she realises how important it is to look after yourself before you can fully look after others.

She also said how important it was to break the generational cycle for her grandchildren, to normalise that it’s ok not to be ok sometimes.

She believes the pressures today on children are much worse than what they used to be and in this fast-moving world, it’s more important than ever to build a tribe and learn to live in the present.

Mum’s favourite self care activities include:

* A weekly outing by herself to the plaza, sipping a tea or coffee and people watching;

* A regular massage or facial;

* Time spent with the grandchildren takes away all of her worries and places her squarely in the present;

* Pilates; and

* Reading inspirational quotes

My mother is the kindest, most caring soul I’ve ever come across in this world. She would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it.

But she has always been a tiger mumma, fiercely protective of her four cubs. Even though we are all grown now, she would still do anything for us. We are very blessed.

And despite all the hardships she has faced over the years raising four children, she has never once lost her mother’s intuition.

If you can, please tell your mum just how much you love her sending you all my love beautiful friends and mummas out there.