Letters to Mary from a Young Mother Explores Identity Crisis of Motherhood
April 22 2005 The experience of expectant and new motherhood is one of profound change A changing body changing relationships the responsibility of caring for a new baby sleepdeprivation and shifting priorities can all combine to create an identity crisis in the new mother Yet it is something that new mothers rarely speak about even to each other Instead a new mother assumes that something is wrong with her that it should somehow be easier that she is the only one who feels that way when in fact nothing could be further from the truth
When Patrice FagnantMacArthur was
going through that experience she searched for a book that described what she was feeling from a spiritual perspective She found very little I wasn looking for another article telling me to sleep when the baby slept or to go out with friends for a night out While that is good advice it didn deal with all the deeper issues that were going on inside of me While I had this amazing child who I loved more than anything who I was as a person was
going through a fundamental shift and I didn feel that there was anyone to talk to about it One night up yet again with a crying nonsleeping child the idea came to her of a book of letters written to Mary mother of Jesus We don tend to think of Mary as a wife and mother
going through all the same struggles that we do but 2000 years ago that was exactly what she was She understands what we are
going through Letters to Mary from a Young Mother iUniverse 2004 is the result
Now the mother of two sons ages 4 years and 2 years she says the identity crisis has passed The title of mother fits me now In hindsight I can see how necessary the whole process of recreating myself as a person was but it doesnt make it any easier to have gone through Just recently I came across Mothering as a Spiritual Journey by Ann Tremaine Linthorst Crossroad 1993 Linthorst writes The babys arrival turns us into mothers overnight but the identity mother does not arrive so instantly This is the universal crisis of becoming a mother the one that every woman goes through with her first child I so wish that someone had told me that when I was
going through it I would have felt so much less alone I hope that Letters to Mary from a Young Mother will help other young mothers to realize that they are not alone and that even if there is no one physically present to them that they can talk to Mary is always there to listen While this is a spiritual book based in Christian faith I believe that it does have mainstream appeal When all is said and done it is just one mother confiding in another about experiences all mothers go through
FagnantMacArthur lives in Springfield MA with her husband and two sons She holds a Masters degree in Applied Theology from Elms College and is editor of httpwwwspiritualwomannet a website and newsletter devoted to womens spirituality
Letters to Mary from a Young Mother Explores Identity Crisis of Motherhood
