Becoming A Parent Changes Your Relationship…. With Yourself

It comes as no surprise that becoming a parent really changes every relationship in your life. Romantically it can affect the relationship with your partner. Many couples talk about having to park “you and I” to the side as you both navigate a new found sense of “us”. Life begins to revolve around caring for your new baby and everything else comes second, including the person you typically gave everything to.

The same can be said for the relationship you have with your parents and friends. It can be an awkward time of adjustment as opinions and advice begins to flow. It is a time of great change and emotions are high.

But what about the relationship you have with yourself? Does that change? Here are some of the reasons why many people would answer yes to that question.

1. If you could talk to your pre-parent self you would tell them to get over themselves. It can difficult to comprehend just how much time you spent worrying over meaningless things when life had so much to offer.

2. You simply become kinder to yourself. Becoming a parent is a huge life adjustment and comes with an incredible amount of anxiety and change. It is important to treat yourself with as much kindness as possible as you attempt to make sense of it all.

3. Sleep deprivation can make the world seem like a dark place. It can trigger depression and is generally a really difficult aspect of parenting. During this time it is common for parents to really access how precious their time is. It is a time of great reflection because every waking (and sleeping) hour is so precious now.

4. You experience a sense of self awareness that is difficult to put in to words. It is almost like an out of body kind of feeling. Sometimes it is associated with pride regarding having grown and birthed a baby which other times it might be associated with mental health or goals for the future. You begin to look at yourself in a very intense way and it is really quite beautiful.

5. Your mindset changes and you begin to hold opinions on topics that never mattered to you before. Such issues might be related to the way in which a baby feeds, sleeps and is responded to. Other times it extends to politics, education and health. Your baby is vulnerable and you want the world to treat it as kindly as possible.