03/09/2026
They say to heal the world, you start within your own world— your home. But how do you heal a home if you haven’t healed yourself?
And healing, my friends, is a privilege.
Every time I get to practice yoga, meditate, journal — any act of self-care, including simply being alone — it doesn’t escape me that many people don’t have that freedom. Some are purely in survival mode. A mode our society keeps us in, because when we’re not, we’re unstoppable.
Becoming a mother cracked my world open. My pregnancy journey brought me to my knees more times than I can count. And when I finally met Luca, when I felt the depths of love I have for him — my love and respect for women grew right alongside it. Not just for women who become mothers, but for the ones who can’t, and the ones who choose not to.
My mother is an incredibly selfless, devoted woman. She raised three of us with everything she had — sacrificed more than I can imagine, leaned on her community, and still held it all together through sheer strength, courage, and determination.
And I’m sure, more than a little rage.
Rage at systems built not to support mothers, but the men who created them. Rage at the shame of not making ends meet — because she was surviving on one income after making the gutting choice to leave a relationship that was no longer healthy. Rage at the near-total absence of support for women’s postpartum mental health. The list is long.
But today, on International Women’s Day, I want to use this space to thank her.
For every sacrifice she made so I could become the woman I am.
Motherhood is the greatest sacrifice a person can make and should always have the choice of making.
And if they choose to make it, the very least we can offer in return is access to free healthcare and mental health support — for all of us. Because without it, we keep in the same cycles instead of ending them.
This International Women’s Day: hold close what you’re grateful for — and stay clear on what still needs to change to protect our rights, our health, and the generations coming after us.
