Being a Mum is Hard Bloody Work, But I Wouldn't Have it Any Other Way!

Written by Rachel Evans for her blog, Out and About Mummy.

You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

Don’t get me wrong, being a mum is hard, bloody hard and I’m not gonna say it’s not!

I will say its the most rewarding thing I have done with my life, it’s made me a better person and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

There is so much pressure to be a good mum. There’s pressure from society to be the best mum, a fun mum, a strict mum, a healthy & fit mum, to have a good work life balance etc etc etc, blah blah blah.

Then there’s all the pressure that a mum puts on herself. Come on, hands up, mum’s are their own worst enemy! Sometimes being a mum isn’t what we expected it to be and that can be difficult to accept, I’ve heard lots of mums saying they miss the ‘old them’, feeling like they’ve lost their former selves. New mums, and old mums need to remember who they are, find something they love whether it’s the gym or reading and find sometime for themselves too. We’re important too mums!

We give ourselves a hard time when we should be giving ourselves a break and a pat on the back!

It still seems so hard to have a great career and be a mum which surely is wrong in this day and age? Trying to have a good work life balance does seem to be difficult the better the job you have, but I may be wrong. A good career never happened for me but at this moment in time, I count my blessings.

I always thought that at some point during college or university, I’d wake up one day knowing what I’d want to do with my life. That all of a sudden one day a sparkly amazing career would fall on my lap. But it didn’t happen! I did well at uni but left still having no idea what career path I wanted, I fell into a ‘job’ like you do as I had bills to pay and that was that! I’m definitely not a person who is defined by their job and have unfortunately never been fulfilled by it.

Since having my children, I’ve found something I enjoy, something I’m good at! Yes we have our tough days, some tougher than others haha. I love helping them learn and watching them grow. I love all the baby and toddler classes and chatting with other mums, I really do. I know they’re not for everyone but they are a great source of support and I’ve met some lovely friends from attending groups. I love exploring the world with my toddlers and try to enjoy as much of it as I can.

Also from having children, I found a love in sharing what’s going on in the local area and sharing what we’re doing day to day. A lot has been self taught but I now know how to manage and update a website, run social media sites and confidently talk to different businesses about a range of things. These are skills I never had before having children and something I’m extremely proud off.

Who cares what society (or yourself) says a mum should be doing! If you don’t like the baby classes, don’t go! If you want to go back to work, go back! We are told too much these days about what a ‘good mum’ should look like. Just enjoy the time whilst they are little as it goes so quick.

Whether you’re a stay at home mum or a full time working mum, give yourself a break, ease the pressure and the expectations and be the best mum you can be, whatever that looks like!

I don’t pretend to be an expert, just wanted to share my experience of motherhood with you.