- Apurva Rungta

Pyarababy Founder

Let’s put you out of your misery first with an answer and the answer is “YES! You do get your life back after a baby.” Who am I to give that guarantee? Well, just a mother of a one-year-old baby girl.

When I was pregnant and still working, I foolishly thought that I can rejoin work after just a month of delivery. Little did I know what a mammoth task it is to raise a child and yes, that too with a complete village by my side to help me! It personally took me 11 months to get back to work and get some sort of social life back and I did shed my fair share of tears over this.

So yes, you do get back to your routine but the journey is slow, steady and impatient.

The key here is to keep your mind clear of any over the top expectations and just give your body and yourself an appropriate time to recoup from the physical and mental turmoil. You have just brought a new life into this world, your emotions are running high, the hormones are all over the place, from being your family’s apple of the eye to becoming everything for someone else, it is a huge thing. The earlier a new mother wraps her mind around the fact, the better it is for her to deal with the reality.

Let’s also factor in the ‘mother’s guilt’ here, which will creep into all the decisions you make for yourself. The guilt the society can make you feel to even think about yourself a little, looms over us too. But a suggestion here, chuck society’s guilt aside, love your little one as much as humanly possible and try to get over the mother’s guilt too.

Take one step at a time to get back to a normal routine, prioritize what is more important and take out time for that first, be it your health; your work; your family or friends; or even a hobby you are passionate about. Prioritize your sleep and diet so that you can be calm and rational in your planning. Get a good support system and talk to fellow mommies so that you know you are not alone in this difficult journey.

Taking care of another human being, fully dependent on you is daunting initially but gets a little better with time as you both grow together in this unique relationship.

Please do not give yourself a hard time if you had kept a timeline in mind to achieve certain things or tick of a few items off of your list. Every mommy is different as is every baby and each mother has her own beautiful journey. Do not compare yourself to others as it will just be emotionally tough.

So trust me here, you do get your life back, albeit might take a few extra minutes!