You know how the old saying goes, right? First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage.

I found love on the 4th of July in 2000.

We got married on July 1st in 2007.

We welcomed our daughter into the world on April 6th (my grandparents’ anniversary and husband’s great-grandmother’s birthday!) in 2010.

It doesn’t all have to happen at once!

We put SO much pressure on ourselves, don’t we?

When my husband and I got married 6 years ago, we had already been dating for 7 years. Shortly after we got married, the ‘I want one’ bug hit me – everything baby was on my mind. They suddenly came out of the woodwork and I was seeing them everywhere.  And I wanted one!

It didn’t help that friends of ours got pregnant around that time, and the idea of having our children grow up close in age was really appealing.

My sister-in-law, then 11 years old, who had been asking if I was going to be her sister probably since the age of 5 or 6 (this is what happens when she’s got 3 brothers!), immediately shifted her question to “when am I going to be an aunt?”

Internal and external pressure can be stressful, frustrating, and confusing. It can make tuning it to what feels right for you very difficult at times.

So what do you do when you reach this time that may or may not feel like the right time for motherhood for you?

You prepare.

You take better care of yourself.

You commit to the things that bring you joy.

You honor the power that you have within you.

Maybe motherhood is just around the corner for you, and maybe, as it was for us, it’s still a few years away.

Instead of letting yourself get wrapped up in the stress and overwhelm, you can empower yourself to become the person you want to be once motherhood does arrive.

Where can you release the pressure? Share with us in the comments below.

Peace, Love, and Wellness,