At the end of maternal mental health awareness week

"I am so anxious," I confided tearfully in my mother. She nodded knowingly and said, "It never goes away, once you're a parent". She didn't realise the extent of my anxiety. I took her words quite literally to mean that I would feel this horrendous for the rest of my life. The bully would never go away. I couldn't possibly survive at that level of anxiety. I thought I had made a mistake, that I was not cut out for motherhood. And then came guilt for not being thankful for my beautiful child.