It's Okay to Feel Overwhelmed and Excited at the same time

It's Okay to Feel Overwhelmed and Excited at the same time.

Nobody tells you this — but you can be over the moon and terrified.

At the same time!! 

In the same breath!!

When you first find out, there's this moment of pure joy. And then approximately five minutes later — the questions start. Am I doing this right? Am I eating right? Is this normal? Why does everyone have an opinion?

The advice pours in. The weeks feel long. The symptoms are real. And somewhere between the growing bump and the counting of kicks you're also just trying to keep yourself together.

That's not weakness. That's pregnancy.

Here's what nobody says enough — pregnant women can feel the full spectrum of emotions.

Happy and scared.

Grateful and exhausted.

Excited and completely overwhelmed.

All of it is valid. All of it is normal. 

You don't have to perform the glow.

During my own pregnancy, whenever discomfort hit, I had one mantra - I kept coming back to a question that I used to ask myself — is this manageable right now? Not tomorrow, not the whole nine months. Just right now. The answer was almost always yes. Even through labor for most of the time.

It's a small question but it brings you back to the present. Back to yourself. Instead of carrying the weight of the entire pregnancy at once, you're just here, in this moment, and this moment is okay.

What actually helps is choosing consciously to come back to yourself. Affirmations. A good book. Talking to someone who actually listens. Writing it down.

Your bump is growing. So are you.

Both of those things can be beautiful and hard at the same time.