Meet the parent: Navigating new parenthood with life coaching
The journey to parenthood is so individualized. So personal. So truly life changing. There can be so much apprehension for what is to come. How will things change? How will I change? How will I feel? If you’ve ever played the “what if'' game, you know how endless and deep and dark that hole can be. You make it. By the skin of your teeth on some days, thriving on others! However you journeyed to parenthood, you’re here. You’ve arrived.
What a beautiful and wildly confusing place you’ve landed yourself in. So very complicated, but simple at the same time. Suddenly, your world is so different than you’ve known. You’re in a place you don’t recognize with someone you just met. Your focus is almost entirely devoted to the needs of your newest love. As a mother, your innate and unwavering commitment is fulfilled while you may be living in a body that is far from familiar. A body that is stretched and sore and wrecked. It has done, quite possibly, the hardest job it has and will ever do in its whole life. And still, you persist. You say yes to pushing through your own discomfort to sustain your baby. Even if your baby wasn’t delivered from your body, you are still enduring chronic fatigue, navigating the newness of it all.
Somehow time moves forward and you manage. Joy and unimaginable, unconditional, all-consuming love is peppered into your days. You continue. You might even get into a routine. What?! The days turn into weeks, then months. As you do this parent thing, you may recall you used to do other things. You used to be more than just a parent. You used to be different. You might wonder who you are now. First thing’s first: Let’s acknowledge that you’re still the you you’ve always known, but also that you’re just meeting the newest version of yourself (and may or may not like her right now). You don’t have to be one or the other. You are all of it, all at once, all of the time. You may feel joy, dread, fulfillment, resentment, pride, loneliness, and hope all in the span of an hour. Let’s be real, in the span of 5 minutes. On top of this, you’re navigating the unending onslaught of opinions and pressures on how to parent, how to woman, how to be. You have permission to be wherever you are, however you are. The moral of the story: At baseline, parenthood has the power to rock your world. It is the most awesome, unparalleled experience. It can also have you questioning your entire identity. Legit.
All of it is welcome here. All of you is welcome here. I am a family nurse practitioner, a proud mom of two littles, life coach, and founder of EK Coaching & Wellness. Discovering all parts of who you are can help ground you in what's truly important. You have a special identity as a mama. Coaching creates the space to connect with yourself, to explore this new identity, and to make choices that are aligned with your authentic self. I am here to hold space for you. Here to be a support for you. Here to guide you to realize how powerful you are.
