Day 8: three inspirational quotes

"Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone"
~ Robert Allen

"The universe rewards action"
~ Unknown

"We have a secret in our culture, and it's not that birth is painful. It's that women are strong."
~ Laura Stavoe Harm.

These first two quotes were real lightbulb moments for me. They challenged me and pushed me to put my doula training into practice. But they have also inspired me in other areas of my life. I think the fact that I stepped outside of my comfort zone and into the unknown but exciting world of working as a birth doula, and that fact that it was hugely successful and rewarding and incredible, inspired me to generally take charge of my life. Live the life I want to live, be the person I want to be, make my own happiness. It has been incredible empowering to discover this. I painted the first quote as part of Creative June (and with Creative June being a bit of getting on and doing what makes me happy, and fittingly with June being the month of my very first birth as a doula) with the intention of framing to hang in our house for continued inspiration for me and hopefully other people as well.

And the third quote... well, it's so true. I have seen more strength than I could have imagined possible with the women I have worked with. We are truly incredible, and it has been such an honour to see that first hand.

Day 6: a book I'm reading

Since I started thinking about training as a doula there has been no space on my reading list for fiction, it's all birth birth birth (and maybe a bit of parenting or breastfeeding thrown in). I recently rearranged our bookshelves to reflect this, as the fiction was taking up a lot of room but doing nohting but look pretty (they were arranged by colour, so they really did look pretty). I have found that I have started, but not finished, a lot of books this year. About six months ago I felt like I had reached saturation point with all the birthy books - there is really only so much that can be said (although I hate to admit it). But then this book was published...

And even though it's a birthy book, it's also not. It's also just about people and relationships and life itself. The '7 Words' was the framework for my doula training, and this book was written by one of the women who trained me, so I can really see the relevance of this book to just about everything. I find it incredibly grounding to dip in and out of, so I am in no hurry to get to the end.

Here are the rest of the books I am currently dipping in and out of...

Balance

I've been making the most of the free childcare when it's available to get my case studies written in order to get my doula qualification. Between this, and a shift at Bubbahub, and a day of getting important but boring stuff done, I realised that I have not spent any real quality time with Ivy for three days. Most days I make a point to do something fun with her inside the house and something fun outside of the house. Otherwise it can be too easy to go through the day doing all the necessary but boring stuff and letting her entertain herself and then realising that I haven't actually given her my full attention at all, despite having spent the whole day together. Although on these days "entertaining herself" doesn't exactly last long and will more likely have spent the day trying to distract her and desperately attempting to stop the whining without actually giving her what she is needing: my attention.

So it suddenly hit me how glad I am to be a (mostly) full time Mum. Because it means that most days aren't spent trying to be useful but spent doing things that offer Ivy the chance to explore and learn and intereact and have fun. And it is amazing to see the world from her perspective.

This morning I had the opportunity to go off and get some work done. But I realised that what I needed was some quality time with my girl. So we went off and did something that was just for her. And best of all we did it as a three!

 

(I have hardly any photos of me and Ivy, but here is us on a trampoline in Lucca)