Motherhood. It’s at once a huge mystery to those without kids as well as being the one thing we all – regardless of age or gender – think we can define. After all, we have all had a mother, or know mothers, or see mothers in the street, don’t we?

Since becoming a mum myself I’ve read reams and reams of articles, Facebook statuses, tweets and blog posts about motherhood. About the good bits, the bad bits, the identity of the mother in society, stay-at-home mums versus working mums, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah. But what is this thing called motherhood? What is it actually like being a mum?

What a ridiculous question, I can imagine you’re saying. Who cares? Why does it even matter? What’s with the self-indulgent mother stuff? Just get on with it. Everyone is different anyway! And, to a certain extent, I’d say you’re right.

Asking what motherhood is like is equivalent to asking what the ocean is like: it’s blue and green, warm and cold, teeming with life and void of creatures, calm and stormy. In short, the only thing we can really say with true certainty about the ocean is that it’s… well… wet.  Continue reading »

When I was little, I always used to read before going to sleep. Right from the age of five or six, I’d have a book on the go beside my bed. That habit lasted throughout school and, later, university. In fact, it didn’t stop until around two years ago.

In 2012 I started a new job that involved working crazy hours. I would get up at 3.30 in the morning, commute to work, do a radio show and then have meetings before driving home to spend the afternoon with my toddler. In the evenings I would do my other work – my writing work. I would fall into bed at 11 o’clock, exhausted. I was too tired to read but too wired to sleep, so I’d take my phone to bed and scroll through Facebook and Twitter, or watch stupid stuff on YouTube.

Unsurprisingly, I felt like crap.  Continue reading »