"The teaching of endurance occurs all throughout Nature. The pads of the wolf pup’s paws are soft as clay when they are born. It is only the ranging, the roaming, the treks on which their parents take them that toughen them up. They can climb and bound over sharp gravel, over stinging nettle, even over broken glass, without being hurt… Wolf Mother’s are toughening up the sweet little spirit, investing it with strength and resilience."
– Women Who Run With The Wolves
I am incredibly lucky to have grown up with a Mother who taught me the value of laughter, resilience, unconditional love and developing my own strength.
Life can be a shit hot mess and sometimes we need a little laughter, a little humor injected into the painful moments to make them a little easier to deal with. Mix it with a little resilience and love, you can only but create a recipe for your own strength.
As with many of you, growing up, life wasn’t perfect. Whose life is?
We experience trauma, death, and endure other experiences that essentially shape us into who we are today. The lessons delivered from these collective experiences; past, current and future will continue to define who we are and what we stand for… and laughter particularly can bring us small moments of joy in an otherwise helpless situation.
We often defy what our mothers say growing up, I wasn’t one of these. My Mother was truly my best friend and I shared all my secrets with, yes all! As a teenager though, I never really appreciated everything that she did for me. The sacrifices, the free taxi service, and the life lessons she was imparting with a comfort of mothers love. I can honestly say, it took me to become a mother myself to truly appreciate what a remarkable job a mother is.
Humour was what got me through a very difficult early 20’s. In a tumultuous relationship, then a single mother at 22, a coping mechanism I developed, designed to keep me moving forward regardless of the hardship and challenges, was the many ‘characters’ I took on. Myrtle, a 80 year old lady was a nurturing old soul, wise and gentle. Phillipe and Jacque’s, French boyfriends travelling around Australia, among many others were all provided the attributes that as a struggling mother, I couldn’t.
It was gold. T (my 17 y/o) and I laughed, joked and played with these characters as if an extended family beyond ourselves. Many have moved on from our life now or visit infrequently just to say hello and have a laugh but I am grateful for the humour that carried us through the harder times.
T, with all her collective experiences is starting to understand that the hard, uncomfortable or painful are all lessons that are developing her innate sense of self, her own strength, determination, motivation, resilience, and of course humour.
With age comes awareness and understanding. To hold space for the mistakes she has made and will continue to make. Teach her to sit with the uncomfortable and develop skills to strengthen her character. As a mother, strong and resilient now in my late 30’s I can support her learning.
To deepen her compassion of others and self, to carry the insight into future experiences. To show up to her mistakes, her experiences and own them. To awaken, to sharpen her intuition and always find something to laugh about!
What has your mother bestowed upon you?
Amanda x
