Matrescence
Have you ever heard this word?
Matrescence.
I hadn't until today.
I was looking for something to watch and decided to open up my TED app. As I scrolled through, one headline caught my eye.
"A New Way To Think About The Transition To Motherhood."
It's a 6-minute clip talking about how we talk about becoming a mother.
She basically hits on three main points.
First, she opens by asking the audience if they remembered what it was like to have acne, and mood swings, and changing bodies. She also describes how frustrating it was to be thrust into this adult body amidst mental and physical changes you didn't quite understand.
She uses these analogies to help the audience understand what mothers go through when they're growing a baby. There are loads of things that are happening to your body and your brain that make you feel a bit nuts. I obviously loved that she said this because it's why I started this blog. My Second Puberty is exactly that!
Second, she talks about how the transition to adulthood has a name - adolescence. And by giving something a name, it can put the weary at ease. She searched high and low for a name that described the transition to motherhood and finally came up with one from an article published in the early 70s. That is to say, this is not something that has been studied much at all. But by having the vocabulary to discuss what is happening to your body, it gives you some degree of control and comfort.
Lastly, she talked about this idea that becoming a mom is supposed to somehow be magical. That once you have a baby your instincts will tell you what to do and all will be right in the world. Suffice to say that is almost certainly never the case.
And when everything isn't unicorns and rainbows, her clients (she's a psychiatrist) would call and tell her they thought they were suffering from postpartum depression.
She had to go through certain questions with her clients to understand whether they indeed were depressed, only to find out a majority of them were just uncomfortable.
She noted that we have to be able to differentiate between discomfort and depression. And this word - matrescence - helps moms do just that.
xo Jenea
- Everything is always okay in the end; and if it's not okay, then it's not the end.
Matrescence.
I hadn't until today.
I was looking for something to watch and decided to open up my TED app. As I scrolled through, one headline caught my eye.
"A New Way To Think About The Transition To Motherhood."
It's a 6-minute clip talking about how we talk about becoming a mother.
She basically hits on three main points.
First, she opens by asking the audience if they remembered what it was like to have acne, and mood swings, and changing bodies. She also describes how frustrating it was to be thrust into this adult body amidst mental and physical changes you didn't quite understand.
She uses these analogies to help the audience understand what mothers go through when they're growing a baby. There are loads of things that are happening to your body and your brain that make you feel a bit nuts. I obviously loved that she said this because it's why I started this blog. My Second Puberty is exactly that!
Second, she talks about how the transition to adulthood has a name - adolescence. And by giving something a name, it can put the weary at ease. She searched high and low for a name that described the transition to motherhood and finally came up with one from an article published in the early 70s. That is to say, this is not something that has been studied much at all. But by having the vocabulary to discuss what is happening to your body, it gives you some degree of control and comfort.
Lastly, she talked about this idea that becoming a mom is supposed to somehow be magical. That once you have a baby your instincts will tell you what to do and all will be right in the world. Suffice to say that is almost certainly never the case.
And when everything isn't unicorns and rainbows, her clients (she's a psychiatrist) would call and tell her they thought they were suffering from postpartum depression.
She had to go through certain questions with her clients to understand whether they indeed were depressed, only to find out a majority of them were just uncomfortable.
She noted that we have to be able to differentiate between discomfort and depression. And this word - matrescence - helps moms do just that.
xo Jenea
- Everything is always okay in the end; and if it's not okay, then it's not the end.
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