Well, it is. In fact, it’s #MaternalMentalHealthWeek all week (Monday, April 30th – Friday, May 4th), but understandably it’s flying under most Irish Mammy’s radars what with the Cervical Check scandal, and the plethora of Anti-Choice propaganda being thrust into eyeballs at every turn.
So what is Maternal Mental Health Day all about? It’s an initiative by American website TheBlueDotProject.org which is normalising the subject of maternal mental health when it’s been drilled into us to “keep the chin up” by the “Sure what’s wrong with you, don’t you have a healthy baby” brigade.
If you’d like to help to end the stigma surrounding mental health issues, it’s simple…
I set up MakeMeAMammy to let people know that maternal instincts don’t come naturally to everyone, especially when you throw anxiety and depression into the mix. And that is OK.
Unfortunately, I don’t get to update this site nearly as much as one should due to also the usual motherly duties of keeping children alive/fed/fulfilled while also trying to juggle work, finances, fitness (BAAAHAHAHA!), childcare, maintaining the exhausting facade that everything’s just tickety-boo, all while not sleeping, etc etc. but – please – always know there’s always someone who will stare you straight in the eyes and say “Yes, it’s shit. It’s relentless. And people keep telling us to enjoy it, which only serves to fuel the alienation, but it’s not forever. Nothing is. The days are long, but the years are short, so try to soak up what you can.”
Or, as someone far more eloquent than me right now put it…
Onwards and upwards.
