After Oprah

Being on Oprah was one experience, and now five days later, it’s fascinating watching the boards on Oprah.com and hearing the fiercely passionate points of views moms have from all over the country, good bad and ugly. Moms are also mobbing us with their thoughts, confessions, feelings of relief, etc. At the end of the day, just opening the dialogue is so huge. We may not all agree on all of the topics, and obviously we are still judging each other pretty harshly for our choices, but wow– what an open door there is to talking openly and honestly now! We’ve also heard from lots of moms that they’re watching the episode with their husbands to give them a better understanding of what they go through and the pressures they feel. And the results are astounding — since watching the show the husbands have been much more appreciative and supportive.

We were just talking with one small group of moms who were thankful for the show, and one of them mentioned that one of their mom friends with 2 kids committed suicide as a result of feeling overwhelming pressure. She didn’t tell a solitary soul how she was feeling – like she wasn’t living up to what she should be doing as a mom. That she was failing at her ‘job.’ That she must be the only mom in the world feeling this way. No matter what, knowing that we’re all in this together — despite where we live, what we may or may not ‘have,’ how many kids we have, if we work or stay home — is just imperative. Knowing that when someone says “how are you today?” you can answer honestly. And have a comrade right there with you.