Writing is my superpower

Writing is my superpower, what’s yours?

Lucie Giselle Ponsford is a mother of two little people. She owns and operates Mimosa Design Limited (a SME) a garden design business. She is a garden designer, writer, horticultural expert. With her 8 strong team she designs, installs and maintains gardens in Oxfordshire. In her non-existent spare time she is also an avid writer of literary fiction and poetry!

Writing is my superpower in motherhood, it could be yours too!

In 2019 I was trying to navigate a serious postpartum funk after the birth of my second baby. Like many of us, my eldest was unable to go to school (#thecovidyears). Fortunately, I had a loving partner who unfortunately was a key worker, so was never home!

I had a strategy to cope because I could tap into and communicate with my inner self. It didn’t mean I didn’t struggle, cry, feel overwhelmed, but it did help me to cut through the fog of motherhood. In fact, I really feel that writing is my pants on the outside superpower! Don’t worry those Bridget Jones’ are only literary not literally on the outside!

The phrase babies don’t come with a rule book really hits home with a newborn, even your second. You’ve kinda forgotten how worrying high temperatures that skyrocket the moment you are left alone can be. The brutal ritual of the witching hour; rocking your colicky baby whilst you have barely enough energy to stand. Your eldest needs a story or you are trying desperately to get your precious one to nap. So that you can drink your tea, eat some lunch and teach phonics whilst functioning as a being in your own right!

I have heard it called being in the trenches! (I’m still there even now with an 8- and 4-year-old). Though with both at school I am seeing a dim light at the end of the tunnel!! But there is no doubt there is still very little time for anything!! Of course, as they get older there are new obstacles to navigate.

Get reading!

One of my key take home messages if you are struggling at any stage is becoming a reader again. It is easy to lose the habit of reading when you’re ‘mumming’. I found the solace of reading during those first months of parenting. A book can be held in one free hand! Short stories and poems are easier to squeeze into 2 min slots!! I started whilst I was being induced. I read the first of the Hunger Games trilogy, and carried on during my first new mom months (I needed an easy gripping read and I was not disappointed). Then there are the manuals: what to expect the first year, the complete sleep guide! The weaning guide, the health guide etc. . . . etc . . . paragraph by paragraph I was back in the reader’s saddle.

So, there are rule books on parenting! What I have learnt, is my role as a mother requires me to be my own author/guide on the moral, emotional and admin side of mothering!! Yes! Family admin is a mega thing, who knew! Remarkably I found a route to tap into my inner support guru through writing.

We have an intuitive and impactful way to find the answers within us. Even if at this moment what you need to hear from the booming voice inside is: “AHHHH I need help!!!”

So, what about you . . . Where are you struggling, no mother is impervious to the struggle!

Make writing your superpower too!

Try these 5 techniques to tap into your latent superpower:

1. Just write!

Write anything, write everything. Set a timer on your phone and keep going for 5 mins, 10 mins, 20 if you can. This is called free writing and is a catch all for those messy thoughts and feelings that can really get us down.

2. Use a trigger or a glimmer

We are well versed with triggers. Glimmers are the opposite moments in life that take you to all the good places you have ever been! Write in the moment and let the words flow in verse, free writing or memoir.

3. Time for a rhyme!

Writing with rhyme is such a lovely way to loosen off the weight of the world.

Here’s one of mine:

I’m going to write a poem,

No, really, I am . . .

I started here with purpose,

. . . I have a cunning plan!

I’m going to write a poem,

A ditty or a rhyme,

The only thing is . . .

Am I in that moment?

Yes! This is the time.

4. Daily writing

Write daily just to hear yourself think it can reduce overwhelm. After 6 months of writing you will have found more purpose. Maybe, even like me a book of poems just waiting to be shared.

5. Writing to yourself

Talk to yourself on the page. Tell yourself how you’re feeling, vent and get angry. If it’s not something you want to share, tear it up or burn it. Just get the feelings outside of yourself, it really will pay dividends.

Three myths to bust about you putting pen to page and writing:

1. You don’t need to spell or be good at writing. In the first instance you can just write for yourself to process your thoughts. Who knows you may find that there is poetry, a story or even a pertinent post that is universal wisdom you just need to share.

2. You don’t need anything special to write with. Just an envelope and a crayon whilst your little ones are playing. You will be surprised how this will fill you up and give them time for self-directed play!! I know, I know, just give it a go!

3. ‘No one wants to hear what I have to say’. ‘I don’t know what to say’, or ‘I might say the wrong thing’, or ‘I am not a writer’. These are all internal nonsense. Write the naysayer down, pin him to the page, and then move through to the good stuff. We are all writers we are all communicators. No one has talking block. This is your opportunity to connect and moderate yourself through a self-care practise and it costs nothing.

I admit I am creative. I have to create and mums like me will know one of the most debilitating things in parenting is there is no time to create anything. You have done your magnus opus, there they are looking up at you and your done – it’s over!! That’s how it feels for a while.

How my writing became my superpower

Now, after writing for a few years I have found that I have a collection of poems. I have self-published these on Amazon, called Mum’s the Word. I also have a novel in its final stages of editing and it is all because I have a portable and communicable outlet for me. More than that if anything goes a miss, I can fall back on myself and find guidance for the big questions.

Why not invest to commit, and buy yourself a treat. A nice pen and a diary! Check out my poetry book Mum’s the word here and see how easy and accessible it is to find universal purpose in your words and thoughts.

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