Sarah M Barkley, LCSW Inc.
   
  • My Practice
    • About Me
    • Denver-area Counseling Blog
    • Location/Contact
  • Therapy for Women
  • EMDR
    • Therapy for Trauma Professionals

The momMY Myth

7/5/2016

0 Comments

 
In the last few years I have experienced a brand new humanity. In honor of being painfully authentic, and not perpetuating perfection myths, I'll share something personal. Being pregnant over 2 years ago now was a nightmare.  I was sick (and I mean peeing while throwing up kind of sick!) from week 6-40.  All the women who I knew who said being pregnant was really one of the most special times in their lives were now coming out of the woodwork to say how difficult it was for one reason or another.  You name it:  pre-partum identity crisis, not-being-a-fun-wife, feeling vulnerable about the upcoming inability to focus on a career they had long suffered for, wondering if they'd actually love this fetus when it eventually came out, depression, etc.  It was shocking...why didn't everyone talk about this when I was non-barfy?  Did they think they needed to make it look pretty, that somehow their experience pregnant (and I'll write more about post-partum later) reflected the love of their baby?
The more I barfed, peed, cried (often all 3), the more I said "this is really hard", the more women wanted to talk.
I say this in the hopes that we all (husbands/ partners as well) decide to share the struggle rather than perpetuate the myth of perfection.  Go out there--- cry in public b/c it's your 3rd breakfast of the day and dammit, this one better stay down b/c you have a 9am meeting!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    My life's Goal

    I, Sarah Barkley, am a psychotherapist here in Golden, CO.  I specialize in adolescents, families and women.  Nothing makes me feel more fulfilled than seeing someone wake up and see their beauty... whether for the first time, or once again.  I believe in therapy, I believe in the struggle, the work, the discussion, the questions, the tears.  If it's a life worth fighting for, one must fight for it.  I've never met a life not worth fighting for.

    Great Books

    Women Who Run with the Wolves- Clarissa Pinkola Estes
    For:
    Any woman needing to "get her groove back"/ to see that she doesn't need to apologize for wanting more/ needing more/ being fierce
    About the book:
    Within every woman there is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts, passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Her name is Wild Woman, but she is an endangered species. Though the gifts of wildish nature come to us at birth, society's attempt to "civilize" us into rigid roles has plundered this treasure, and muffled the deep, life-giving messages of our own souls. Without Wild Woman, we become over-domesticated, fearful, uncreative, trapped. Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D., Jungian analyst and cantadora storyteller, shows how woman's vitality can be restored through what she calls "psychic archeological digs" into the bins of the female unconscious. In Women Who Run with the Wolves, Dr. Estes uses multicultural myths, fairy tales, folk tales, and stories chosen from over twenty years of research that help women reconnect with the healthy, instinctual, visionary attributes of the Wild Woman archetype.



    The 5 Love Languages-Gary Chapman
    For:
    For anyone wanting to connect better with those important to them.  SUCH A SIMPLE APPROACH!  A necessary read!

    About
    :
    New York Times
    bestselling author Dr. Gary Chapman guides couples, families, parents in identifying, understanding, and speaking their other’s primary love language—quality time, words of affirmation, gifts, acts of service, or physical touch.

































    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    June 2018
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2014
    October 2013
    August 2013
    August 2011
    April 2011
    January 2011
    November 2010

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from simonsun08, David Blackwell., lululemon athletica, db photographs