surrendering in the midst of the storm
Hey everyone. I wanted to write a blog to share some of my thoughts on this entire situation. I hope these words help you, and don’t make you more stressed than you already probably are. I don’t really have a lot to say, but I want to say this: pregnancy, labor, and postpartum are all situations where you have to surrender. Pregnancy is out of your control just as COVID-19 is mostly out of your control.
When you become pregnant your body goes through many changes that are simply out of your control. There’s no doubt that this is a challenging time for many pregnant people, especially for those who choose to wait to announce their pregnancy, since they must suffer through these discomforts without sharing them with family and friends. Many people have to surrender to these bodily changes and to the fact that they will not be able to do all the same things, at the same pace, as they did before they were pregnant. You also have to understand the fact that you can plan for labor, but ultimately you can’t know what will happen, you must surrender.
While in labor, surrendering to contractions and not fighting them will help your body SO MUCH. Drop and surrender. For many people (and I’ve seen this with all my clients) the tendency when going through pain is to tighten and turn away from it, instead of leaning into it and relaxing. Let your body lead the way and trust in every sensation. You also cannot hold onto your birth plan with an iron grip. This will lead to disappointment if something changes in the midst of labor.
In postpartum and motherhood, every day is a process of surrender. Imagine you have a baby that never stops crying. You can either fight and resent that situation or let go of your need to have an ideal baby and love them exactly where they are. Though not easy, it’s necessary. Motherhood is always a road to surrender, that’s one of the beauties of it.
The worry and stress you put your body through thinking about what COVID-19 could do to yourself and your family are valid feelings, but we can’t let the fear and lack of control overtake us. I’m not saying you should blatantly ignore what we are being told to practice. We have to have wisdom and execute boundaries in order to keep ourselves safe. And with that, we must accept that fact that we may get the virus even if we do everything we can to avoid it. We simply don’t know enough about what this virus really is, and we have to just be okay with that and surrender our stress to the universe, or God, or however you need to let go, just do. And you’ll probably have to do it more than once, and that’s okay. I know I’ve had to wake up everyday and let go of all my worries, and stress in order to just get on with my day. It’s not easy, but it is necessary. I am sending all of you good thoughts. Please know you can reach out to me always. I am here for you.