Blending Identity & Motherhood

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Hello and Welcome back to The Village Initiative!

Author's Note: I am so grateful that you are here with Imperfect Yet Do What U Can for the second post of the series! We hope that the holiday season, though just beginning, is bringing you joy. Please enjoy this week's topic of identity and motherhood, interact in the comments, and share to help grow the community. This is an interactive series. If you would like to take a contemporary approach to the journal prompt and you feel comfortable, please share your reflections in the comments. This is a safe space for honest conversation.

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Who am I?

This question lingers in the back of my mind often.

Does it ever surface for you too?

Finding yourself while weeding through the trenches of motherhood is tumultuous, to say the least. Expectations from society, family, and even yourself can make the emergence of our best selves feel prolonged. It becomes an unspoken identity crisis—one we rarely talk about openly with one another.

Why is that?

We are expected to keep “it” together, and what I mean is ourselves. Our minds, hearts, and spirits are expected to stay constant, which often overlooks the reality that we may not be okay—today or any day.

With the holidays here and in full swing, we are thrown into a season of togetherness and giving. These sentiments show up through material items and food, sprinkled with embraces and reconnection.

Why not reconnect with ourselves, too, as a gift?

Redefining the idea of Mother has become mainstream. It is easy to get swallowed by what we see on social media—how other moms live. But how are you living? Are you living? This journey of uncovering who we are—beyond motherhood and within it—is ongoing. There is no finish line, and strangely, that is part of the beauty of identity.

God reveals our identity at our most fragile state. As we move through life’s endeavors, we chip away at ourselves to reveal the sculpture that has always been waiting within us. God made you so fearfully and wonderfully.

On the path of acknowledging ourselves, we must allow our presence to take up space, even in the smallest pockets of time: a short moment to speak an affirmation, journaling on your lunch break, or a simple sigh of relief when the day’s work is done.

Stepping out on faith is something I’ve heard echoed for a long, long time within this village of women, and I am saying it to you now because I’ve had to say it to myself. If you are feeling like something is missing, if you feel unfulfilled, or if you are simply seeking quiet time with yourself—step out on faith. That is the first quiet moment of an identity shift: a prayer of appreciation for what you have, and a moment’s grace for being able to breathe.

Ezekiel 36:26 — NIV

“I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.”

As we move forward, I want to explore what it means to reclaim small parts of ourselves again—not through a grand, sweeping transformation, but through the simple ways we tend to our minds and spirits each day. Sometimes identity is strengthened not through answers, but through practices that remind us we exist outside of our roles.

In the next post, we will open the conversation around hobbies and mental health, discussing ways—no matter how big or small—they can be foundational to our journey of finding ourselves again. 

Thank you so much for reading this week's post. We will meet up again soon!

Please share feedback and suggestions of topics you would like to see from the blog team.