When you’re a mom, you are posed with an identity crisis of sorts. One that comes with having to balance your career, being a wife to your partner, building a home for your family, and being the best mom ever to your children. How exactly do you juggle all of that and still stay sane??
That’s a question most yet-to-be-moms are asking, and mommy Nicole Wuthrich Dela Cruz will tell us more about it. How she makes it look so breezy is beyond us, but here’s what she has to share!
Imagine a super sporty girl who lives life wave after wave, suddenly forced to stay in bed and live a sedentary life, at least for a while. It was a total change. From lifestyle to behavior, motherhood made a significant impact on Nicole.
As with many moms, motherhood changes your body. One day you’re in a body you’re so familiar with and have known for many years. And one that has grown with you through many twists and turns in your life. Then the next day, you find yourself in a body you no longer recognize.
When you’re single and have no kids, you’re privileged to take the “chill” road. As much as we all want to take that road, a sick baby takes you from chill-mom to crazy-panic-mom in a split second.
Moms are triggered by their child not feeling well, and Nicole acknowledges that she’s had her fair share of panic moments. She shares that she feels like a “suki” at St. Luke’s and Medical City. When any of her kids don’t feel well, it’s a trip to the hospital.
But despite all the changes she had to endure, she still manages to win motherhood over. Sure, motherhood has changed her—but it’s changed her for the better.
Supermom skills acquired: Can perpetually multi-task, becomes The Flash when taking kids to the hospital, can shapeshift, and still be the best mom.
Before you become a mom, juggling your personal and professional life is enough of a challenge. Add a husband and children into the mix, it sounds like mission impossible. But even with all that going on, everything is solved with four magic words.
“I love you, mama.”
“All it takes is for my little one to look at me, kiss and hug me and tell me, “‘I love you, mama,’” Nicole says. “And all the troubles go away. All’s right with the world, and everything makes sense.”
Motherhood comes with so much—experience, drama, love, and more love. If there’s something we all know to be true, it’s that motherhood is the best teacher when it comes to learning how to love selflessly and unconditionally.
Supermom skills acquired: Loving unconditionally, selflessness, creative problem-solver
While supermoms make it look like they have 100 hours in a day and motherhood comes with unlimited patience, they’re human, too, just like us.
Being 100% selfless takes its toll, even on the greatest mothers. When you give and give and give, you can lose yourself in the process, and Nicole is no stranger to this.
“I love my children so selflessly that I was just focusing on them, and somehow, I lost my identity.”
Mother or not, we all have waves of crises. We are all growing, shifting, and evolving as we go. Every chapter teaches us to find our footing and ourselves within that chapter of life, which was exactly what Nicole did.
“I realized that I needed to do something for myself. Self-care is important, and that meant carving off some “me-time,” which I did through fitness.”
Growing up an athlete who competed in different parts of the world, Nicole’s cup of sanity is finding time to work out again. Fitness brought her a lot of solace but she also acknowledged that some adjustments had to be made. She couldn’t just go to the gym anytime because there were little ones to consider. So she got creative and started getting into home workouts!
She used her furniture as equipment and worked with body-weight movements. She started back from the beginning but gave herself the chance to grow through it again.
Finding your place in motherhood can be tricky. For some moms, “me-time” means making time for fitness; for others it may be reading a book; it could even be relocating your furniture again and again and again. To each is her own.
Whatever it is, you need to stay sane and stay yourself, make time for that. Set goals that are realistic and won’t just be an added burden to your already long list. Know what you’re capable of and take baby steps if you have to.
Supermom skills acquired: Resourcefulness, best at being herself, and is always a “mommy!” away.
“To all the moms, I know at times it’s really hard. Your patience gets tested and things are overwhelming, but just hang on! Those hardships and challenges are going to make you stronger and tougher. It’s all worth it! I’m a mom, and I will never trade it for anything!” – Nicole Wuthrich Dela Cruz
Motherhood is different for every mom, and each is a super mom in their own way. You deserve to be celebrated – today and always.