Calypso Merle

21/07/2023

SHARING TO HELP THOSE IN NEED IN THE COMMENTS ON THE ORIGINAL POST!!! 😁😁

21/07/2023

Parenting is more difficult when we are doing a great job. Why? We are all-in. We are fully invested. We are thoughtful. We care - a lot. 💛 Sending so much love to every parent of a tween or teen who has cried, lost sleep or been worried this week. You are irreplaceable.

22/05/2023

🥰🥰🥰

22/05/2023

Times did change.

22/05/2023

That is absolutely right Socks Heeler, being sick is a part of life sometimes. ❤️

Me sick, cough cough 😷🥺
Trixie Heeler Stripe Heeler

18/05/2023

Aww!!

Definitely the best toilet in the world

08/05/2023

I love this.

08/05/2023

❤️❤️❤️

08/05/2023

08/05/2023

Please remember, you can’t fill your children’s cups up if yours is empty. ❤️

I look really happy here, but inside, I was broken.

Postnatal depression hit me like a tonne of bricks after I had Elliot.

The first few months with Evie were so different. They were surprisingly good. I thought I'd escaped the grips of PND this time...

But I was wrong.

Before I knew it, I was back in a dark place, struggling to find the joy in anything. Drowning in motherhood, struggling without a village, and wondering what was wrong with me?

Society was telling me to be and . Motherhood is portrayed as the greatest gift on earth, the best thing you'll ever do, so how dare I be depressed?

I nearly didn't get help. It seemed too hard. I was raising a baby and a toddler. I lived on a farm. My husband was working so hard to make our new business viable.

I thought that my problems didn't matter and I put everyone else first. But they did matter. I matter.

So I made the decision to take control. I got help this time. I shed my tough exterior and wholeheartedly embraced vulnerability.

I got help. I got talking. I got better.

Today is World Maternal Mental Health Day, and in an interview with a journalist yesterday, we discussed why there is still a stigma attached to mental health.
I don't know the full answer, but I know it's complex.

Is it that we see mental illness as a flaw?

Are we that obsessed with perfection that we expect ourselves to be robots when we've just undergone the most drastic physical and emotional upheaval of our lives? 👶

New data from the reveals more than half (55%) of new parents don’t know how to spot the signs of PNDA.

Motherland's own survey of more than 300 rural mums found 72% have struggled with some level of PNDA. It's frightening.

I don't have a solution for smashing the stigma. But what I do know, is that talking about it helps. Being vulnerable helps.

Your happiness matters.

Are you happy mama?

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