Before I became pregnant with my daughter, I had a lot of questions. One thing I wanted to get a handle on was how my life would change once I had a child. Now, I find it funny. There is no way I could have figured out how my life was going to be after having a kid. I had no frame of reference.
If you are thinking about having children yourself, but are afraid of how your life might change, the following is for you. Here are some of the ways I found that my life changed, and you may find that these are true for you, too.
1. Your life will change completely, but not in the ways you might expect.
I can't tell you exactly HOW it will change, but you will have a small, helpless person to whom you will need to attend. This is a real person, with real needs. It seems obvious intellectually, but it is a whole different ballgame once you are actually there. Being a parent is a completely different experience than not being a parent. I enjoyed not having children, and I also enjoy having a child, and I don't think that one is better than the other. They both have their strong pros and cons.
2. For awhile, your life might be unrecognizable. This is temporary.
Becoming a parent has a way of turning your old roles on their heads. You will wake up in the middle of the night a lot. You will probably be doing a lot of laundry and managing a lot of human body wastes. You might wonder where the "old you" is. The answer: the "old you" is still there, although changing and evolving. Your new role as parent will be your top focus for awhile as you learn to integrate it into the other roles in your life. However, as I discovered recently in taking my first overnight trip away from home since my daughter was born nearly 2 years ago, the other parts will still be there when you are ready and able to focus some attention back on them.
3. You may become more deeply aware of your mortality.
Many people don't like to think much about their own death. We all know it's coming sooner or later, but having a child brings your attention to the passing of time in a sharp way. As you watch your child grow, and marvel over how quickly this happens, you become more acutely aware that time is passing for you, as well.
4. "Your Life Is Over Once You Have Kids" does not have to be the truth.
I overheard someone say this the week before I gave birth, when I was hugely and obviously pregnant. A group of attractive younger people were talking with one another over Margaritas and salsa a few tables over from us in the restaurant, and I can only assume I was the impetus for the conversation, given the dearth of pregnant women in the vicinity and the fact that the restaurant TVs were playing NFL games. They were not quite right in their assertion, however. Life as you once knew it is over. It will often take you several hours to do what used to take you one hour (for example, writing a blog post). Like I said above, your role as parent will take center stage, especially at the beginning, and almost to the exclusion of other things. Part of being a parent, though, is finding a path that makes you available to your children and ensuring their needs are met while making sure that you maintain your own self-care. You might not be able to spend hours meditating, or take off for a last minute trip to Europe for three weeks. However, you will learn how to integrate these parts of your life-before-kids into your life-with-kids.
5. Certain things bother you less.
It's almost as if something happens and you wind up with a secret decoder in your brain that is able to empathize with kids and parents everywhere. You start to realize that that child yelling in the produce section is overtired. Your dealings in the comings and goings of human waste become less loaded with squeamishness: it's still kind of gross to deal with loaded diapers, but it's balanced with a certain perspective, especially if you were the parent who gave birth and went through the labor process.
6. Speaking of labor...
Yeah, it hurts. The first few days after birth, you will likely feel like a zombie. You will be in completely new territory. This is not the time to try and keep a stiff upper lip and power through alone, nor is it a time to let yourself be pushed around. Go into pregnancy with a good sense of your limits, but do not be surprised to find out that you change your mind about some things. The entire process of labor and childbirth is a growth process and a transformational process in and of itself and can lead you to access a sense of self-trust you may not have had before. Do not underestimate its power, and try not to judge yourself if childbirth doesn't go the way you expected it to, because it probably won't.
7. You may find your life expanding, rather than contracting.
Related to the myth of your life ending is a common sense that you won't be able to do anything, have a life, or do any of the old, fun things you used to do. While personal growth isn't a reason in and of itself to have children, the journey of becoming a parent will take your growth in directions you wouldn't have imagined before. It will inform other areas of your life and shift your perspective. I have found myself becoming more thoughtful in my words and actions, considering what I want for my child to learn from my example. It has meant I have had to confront my own fears and weaknesses in order to be a role model for my daughter on how to live well. You may find your emotional life takes on a whole new texture, as you share in your child's joy and delight in discovering the world.
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