If you’ve ever joined a book club, exercised with a trail-runners group, or maybe became a regular attendee of your neighborhood homeowners association meetings, then you understand the desire to belong. It’s a pretty typical human trait: wanting to relate to others who share something in common. For moms, this is huge.
As we grow older, it can be easy to feel like you’re living in a kind of transient space where, things are always changing. From high school to college to the workplace and perhaps on to lives that include babies or spouses, most of us find ourselves acquiring an entirely new group of friends, associates and like minds throughout our social growth and evolution. Things are ever shifting, and our lives take on this chameleon-like factor adjusting and adapting to whatever comes next.
Many women will agree that once you become a mother, you require a lot of help. It isn’t always the same sort of help, and often, the need for such specific assistance leads to a big change in lifestyle. Motherhood is so different from other stages in life that it could easily be considered its own not-so-secret sorority. I’ve learned the importance of having my own little “mommy tribe,” a group of women who are both my friends and mothers.
My mommy tribe is a fierce group of women I regularly refer to as “mom bosses”. They are a strong and diverse bunch, each with unique circumstances, adorable kids young and old, and busy lives. I could spend an entire blog listing their admirable qualities, but for now, I’ll just assure you that my girls? My Mom Bosses? They rock.
These women bring so much to my life, offering far more than just friendship. My mommy tribe enriches me, supports me during tough moments, provides advice and ultimately offers a type of unconditional love that only moms could understand. I want to be clear: my comprehensive friend group is by no means homogenous. I love and am loved by men and women from all walks of life and with contrasting home-life situations. I value none more than the other. With that said, this particular moment celebrates my mommy tribe!
I find comfort and compassionate within this group. There is this unspoken intuition we share that makes situations like being late for a lunch much more easily navigated. Being a part of a mommy tribe means not having to explain my tardiness that day, because my mommy friend just knows what it took to get there. It means being able to lay my emotional baggage at the door after a tough day and have my girl there in whatever capacity I need her.
People say you become your friends. I say, “Gosh I hope so!” My tribe has taught me so much. I find confidence in being a stronger disciplinarian when I watch a member of my tribe set such a great example for her children. I have a friend who places a strict limit on TV watching and mobile apps for her children. Her modelling reminds me to read more with my kids. I have great-grandparents who give me raw, unfiltered advice (and sometimes critiques) that push me to operate in truth.
Having a mommy tribe has become like breathing. Along with me, these women participate in the Olympic sport that is motherhood, and the training is something no other group experiences quite the same way. It is the difference between sympathy and empathy, and it is tremendous. I’m so grateful I get to do life with these women, and I will always cherish the blessing I have in my village, my ultimate supporters, my mommy tribe.
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