A Reflection on Motherhood

 

As we celebrate Mother’s Day this May and in Poland, on May 26. I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what it means to be a mom here, and as a Filipina. It is a mix of both cultures, values, and ways of nurturing, yet motherhood carries one shared responsibility—no matter your background, culture, or upbringing.

Motherhood is a journey of many layers. It’s not just about raising children. It’s about becoming someone new while still holding on to who you were before.

It is waking up early to prepare for the day, working hard either at home, in an office, or both and carrying the invisible weight of emotional labor. It is answering questions, solving problems, offering hugs, setting boundaries, and worrying deeply in silence.

It is being the center of a family’s universe while sometimes feeling invisible in your own.

It is holding space for others while slowly learning to hold space for yourself.

Motherhood is a role that never clocks out. It teaches endurance, creativity, patience, and love that defies logic. It asks you to be strong on the days you feel most vulnerable. It teaches you to stretch your time, your heart, your limits and more often beyond what you thought possible.

But within that stretching, there is also growth.

In the whirlwind of responsibilities, it becomes easy to forget that behind “Mom” is a woman. A human being with dreams, needs, and her own story. Tiredness becomes normal. Rest, option. But slowly, we begin to understand: taking care of ourselves is not a luxury, it is part of the responsibility.

Because the more nourished we are, the more fully we can love. The more rested we are, the more deeply we can give. The more we honor our own humanity, the more we teach our children to honor theirs.

So here’s to the mothers who show up, day after day, with quiet strength and deep love.

Here’s to those still learning to give to themselves what they so freely give to others.

And here’s to the truth: motherhood is not just a role we play. It is a lifelong transformation and we are allowed to grow alongside the children we raise.

Cheers to all Mother's in the world!

xo,

Ai