You can still love and provide for your children while building a life for yourself too. Motherhood doesn’t mean you have to completely abandon who you are or give up on your dreams.

My mom said the same thing while raising us. She sacrificed her dreams for us and devoted herself entirely to her children. I appreciate everything she did for us, but now that I’m grown, I honestly wish she hadn’t had to give up so much of herself.

If I could turn back the hands of time, I would tell her that she could love me while still loving herself. She could care for us while also pursuing the things that made her happy and working towards the life she had always wanted.

Children grow up eventually, and when they do, they shouldn’t look back and realise that their mother’s entire life ended the moment theirs began.