The Goddess Myth

Today I was caught by the front cover page of Time magazine of a naked mother with her newborn baby titled The Goddess Myth.  The article was a rant on the societal pressures that are put on women these days to be supermom and go it “all natural” for the benefit of the baby.  There were examples of mothers who have tried to have natural births and ended up with a cesarean or who tried to breastfeed exclusively and ended up using formula or who had repeated miscarriages and these women were burdened with intense feelings of failure and shame for not measuring up to give their babies all they hoped to be able to.

The article talked about how when you’re pregnant there’s an “expert” around every corner telling you what you should or shouldn’t do.  As mom’s we want to do what’s best for our babies and we also want to fit into society, to please and be accepted.  These are very strong needs of ours.

The article was a bit harsh in bashing the breast is best movement and co-sleeping and natural births as though they could actually be more harmful than helpful.  I did, however like one thing said at the end and that is our need to support each other as women even when our paths differ, to talk about our failures and realize there are no failures.

There are no failures because the birth you have is the birth you are meant to have.  We can prepare for the ideal birth and for when things do not go as planned as much as we can.  In the end we are not the ones in charge or the ones in control.  We are not meant to be at the mercy of every well-intended expert out there either.  Birth is one of those rites of passage that brings a woman to the depths of who she is and she ultimately makes the choices she deems fit.   I urge you to make your choices carefully based on the best research yet ultimately, I beseech you to search your heart and your womanly instincts and stand true to who and what you believe is the best for you, your baby and your partner and let everyone else fall onto the wayside.

This is what the inner Goddess is.  It’s NOT the woman who did it all “perfect”  or “all natural”.  The Goddess is the woman who knows and stands for what she knows is right for her and for the highest good of her own family. The inner Goddess has no desire to conform to societal pressures, nor does she give her power away to shame.   Even if that means a cesarean, or formula or time alone or a hospital birth.  She knows there is no failure because there is grace in every experience and every experience is growth and evolution and every experience is perfect and do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

Let’s stop the shame.  Let’s stop judging other’s choices and experiences.  Let’s stop beating ourselves up for not measuring up to arbitrary “perfect” standards.  We will have more room for the love and support that we really need to be giving and sharing and more love to receive our babies with.  We can all use a lot more love.