It is true that I am not a mother yet, but I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about the kind of person I want to be when I become one. I am relieved, for one, that I'm well past the age of the aforementioned teens. Who wants such a huge responsibility at such a young age? They didn't even have a chance to figure out who they want to be as adults, much less as moms. I, on the other hand, have had some time to figure out who I want to be as a grown up.
Probably most of you have come to the same conclusions that I have. I want to be a mother, but also more than that. Though I'm sure I'll want to have playdates and will talk endlessly about my kids, I also want to have responsibilities and passions outside of my children. I don't know many women who feel differently.
Fortunately for us women, we have been gifted with the unique ability to juggle many identities at once. Mother. Wife. Friend. Employee. Volunteer. Activist. Leader. I'm not sure we could be solely defined by one role even if we wanted to (I make an exception for women who've just had babies--you're pretty much just "mom," even if you wanted to do more.).
It is this multidimensional quality that also makes us women great community leaders (a subject I will be focusing a lot on in the months to come). In fact, right now I'm in the process of developing tools for women who want to tap even more into their leadership--particularly mothers. So, if you have any great stories--or maybe your own personal testimony--of how you've become a multidimensional mother leading in your town, please email me at shillberry@comcast.net. I'd love to hear from you! Maybe you can become a great role model for those teenage moms in Massachusetts!
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