Mommy Brain Can Actually Improve Your Life

One of the hardest parts of navigating motherhood is the loss of your sense of self.  The ever mounting chores, anxiety, sleep deprivation and unending fatigue don’t help either!  But the idea that “Mommy brain” is just a result of being tired isn’t really true!

In fact, the neurological changes that happen during motherhood can actually improve your life… if you use them well!

What is Mommy Brain?

This is like the offsides rule from Ted Lasso “It’s hard to describe, but you know it when you see it!”  You’re tired, foggy, overwhelmed and often feel forgetful of things you wouldn’t normally forget.  Maybe you put the cheese in the pantry, or the batteries in the fridge.  Maybe you lost your car keys for the 20th time this morning.  Maybe it’s simply all the texts and emails you’ve been too exhausted to reply to.

Whatever it looks like, there’s actually a neurological basis for what you’re experiencing!

First and foremost women’s brains change during pregnancy and postpartum (they change during perimenopause too!).  Some studies show a decrease in grey matter, others show an increase in white matter, but in any case we’re seeing physical changes to the brain tissue itself.

Now it’s easy to assume that brain changes are a bad thing, but especially in motherhood, these changes are part of human evolution - it’s how we evolved to take care of children.  Or more so, how children evolved us to keep the babies alive.

It’s a brutal mix of elements - sleep deprivation, constant crying, and structural brain changes - that make our brains more pliable so that we can learn new things more quickly.  Neuroplasticity and myelination are heightened during the postpartum period because we are learning, in real time, how to respond to our children’s needs.

And this plasticity continues as our children age because their needs are constantly changing and we are (whether we realize it or not) changing with them.

But what about my forgetfulness?

This is a common misconception about “mommy brain” - the idea that you’re somehow cognitively impaired as a new parent.  Tests actually show that women don’t lose much cognitive function after having a child… it only feels like you do.

Our feelings can be misleading here precisely because our brains don’t like change.  Our brains would much prefer consistency and predictability because it keeps us safe so when something as overwhelming as postpartum happens our brain kind of goes into overdrive trying to process all the changes happening.

Parenthood is anything but predictable!

This disruption to our lives feels incredibly overwhelming, but it doesn’t mean our brain stops working - it’s just functioning differently.  So while you feel that you forget things and lose things and can’t think straight, the reality is that your brain space is being redirected to learning childcare.

Think of how quickly you learn to discern the difference between hungry and attention cries, the difference between a fart and a shart, and the innate knowing when it’s about time for your baby to wake up again.  

Your brain has learned these things incredibly quickly even if it feels like a sieve. It’s reprioritizing what it retains. 

How can you use mommy brain to improve your life

This is the area most experts and mother’s groups completely miss - you are PRIMED for change during this time of your life, but it’s not just limited to caring for your child.

You might have very real time, energy and financial limitations after having a kid, but your brain is super available to learn new things incredibly quickly.

So what would you do with that super power?

For me, I took apart everything I knew about movement and my body and singing and life, and put it back together in a way that has allowed me to live pain-free and fully expressed in a way that was never possible before.

Last summer, I even did my first opera audition in 10+ years with only two weeks notice!  Something that would have taken me months to prepare for, I condensed down into 10 days.  And I got more done in those ten days than I’d gotten done in the past 10 years… full stop.

When you can see how your body changing isn’t a liability, but a necessary and powerful opportunity for growth, how does that change your sense of self?  What feels more available to you now than it did before you read this?

This is where my coaching work starts to bleed into bigger pieces of fulfillment in life… What have you been wanting to do or putting off because you didn’t think it was possible or practical?  What desires are bubbling up ready to be heard?

Motherhood (and for that matter perimenopause, too) become portals for prime transformation. This is a time when you can learn new things and integrate them faster than before. When you’re not feeling at odds with your brain and body a whole list of exciting things become available.

I’m here to shake up what you know to be possible and show you how mommy brain can actually improve your life!

If you want to live pain-free - I can help you find new ways of moving that help reduce or eliminate pain.  If you want to feel strong in your body - I can show you new ways of working with your breath that can instantly increase your strength and stamina.  If you want to feel confident giving presentations or performing - I can teach you how easy it is to amplify your sound and presence using your whole body.

The world is truly your oyster right now… your pearl is ready to be found!

If you want to chat more about how mommy brain can improve your life, send me a message to schedule a free intro call or sign-up for my newsletter to hear about upcoming offerings.

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