I just want to put it out there that I’m not a self-certified expert on parenting by any means. I run courses on writing motherhood because I write, I always have done; it’s how I process my feelings – my grief, my joys, my disappointments, and it’s how I can convey my wildly fluctuating feelings about parenting! The wonder of it, the exhaustion, the relentless calls of ‘Mum!’, the arguments.
But also, what a privilege it is to have this job. What an honour to call see our children’s talents and to call them out, what a miracle to have given birth to them and then to watch them grow. Having my first child changed me as a person and changed my life radically. My daughter was diagnosed with Type One diabetes at the age of two which set our lives off on a different course again, and I have written about that a lot as it felt like a punch in the face to our family, and it has taken quite a long time to get back up again.
There were times with my first two when there wasn’t time to write at all, there was barely any breathing space as they were born so close together and I only succeeded in getting down a few notes here and there, but I did train myself to grab the opportunity whenever I could. And that is okay in its time. I wrote a piece about this here: (http://elisabethpike.tumblr.com/post/171064825581/space-to-dream). It’s all to do with composting. There are times in life when we can only grab handfuls of inspiration and there are times when we can process things a bit more. But that is okay because as long as you store up these handfuls, in notebooks or in a file on your computer, they will settle down to compost and there may come a day when you find them again and they may turn to jewels for you.
I think to stay at peace with ourselves and not go too crazy, we have to acknowledge the limitations that we sometimes face. After two weeks at home with the children this Easter, I was quite looking forward to getting back into some work this week, but two of them got a stomach bug and so I’ve had another three days of achieving zero work! But it’s okay. Everything will get done in the end, it might just take a little longer.
elisabeth pike 