Depression, Anxiety and the Power of Writing

This post was sparked by a tweet earlier in the week by the PSS Postnatal Depression Project on how talking about your feelings can really help you understand the origins of your post natal depression or anxiety.  From my own personal viewpoint, I agree with this statement wholeheartedly.  In my darkest hours since C was born I could have quite easily have gone to the Doctors and been put on medication however I knew that it was being able to talk to someone that really made me feel better, and that things would only really improve if I was able to get to the root of the problem and fix it.

18 months old

 

My beautiful daughter is 18 months old today!

Another milestone in her little life.

A Stranger to Myself

This post was prompted by one written yesterday by BakedPotato Mummy on how her life has changed since becoming a Mummy.   It got me thinking about my own life and how it has changed, or rather it prompted to think about writing it down as it has been on my mind for a while.

On leaving university with a postgraduate degree in Archaeology, I got a job working for local government maintaining a database of all the archaeological sites in that county and providing archaeological information for developers and member of the public.  I loved my job and I loved the people I worked with.  However the reality was the pay was rubbish, there was little chance of any career progression locally until my boss retired (she was in her 30s at the time so that was not likely to happen soon), and our jobs were looking increasingly shaky with every local government cost cutting reshuffle.

Mummy Time: Myth or Necessity?

Today has been another difficult day.  A day of clinginess and tantrums.  Celeste is teething am I sure that has exacerbated the problems this week, however they have definitely always been there.

Now, as much as the idealistic parent might say that 100% of a Mummy’s time during the day should be devoted to their child, in reality there are other parts of daily life that need to be dealt with.  This washing needs to be put out, dinner needs to be cooked, Mummy even has to go to the toilet occasionally.  Not all of this can always be done during nap time.   If I know I need to get on with something else for 10 minutes, I always try and set up Celeste with an activity that I hope will keep her interested until I return.  However this isn’t the issue.  The issue is Mummy has left the room!  Celeste is clingy to the extreme.  Unless she is with another adult to keep her company, she cannot cope with being parted from me.  Although on paper, this may seem quite sweet, it does unfortunately mean getting anything done is almost impossible.  I appreciate that I am the most important person in her little life but no-one else I know seems to have this problem.

My first year a as a Mummy

This post has been an extremely difficult to write. I contains a lot of emotion and I am aware that it does come across negative. On the other hand, writing it down is helping me move forward therefore please do not judge me for it.