The Fierce Mama Battle Cry

Ladies, in the immortal words of Beyonce, who runs this mutha?! We do! We run the show in motherhood, and we are badass for doing it. When shit gets to be too much, we roll up our sleeves, throw our shoulders back, and swing our hips while we strut because we are hella tough for carrying the weight of what sometimes feels like the world.

We strut because we embrace our gut instincts when it comes to our kids. We don’t need to defend our fears or explain ourselves to anyone at 2:30 a.m. when a fever spikes. We know when our kids are sick, we know when they are hurt, and we know when they need help. We swoop in and take care of business.

We stand tall because we give no fucks about mom shamers. We know what is right for our children, we know how to feed our babies, how to keep our kids safe, and how to teach them right from wrong. Pay no mind to the loudmouth assholes with big opinions about our ability to parent. Screw the sanctimommies.

We smile in the face of self-doubt because we know that mom guilt is real, and that although sometimes it is a great motivator to get shit done, it ultimately has no bearing on our ability to reach whatever we define as greatness in our roles as badass moms. We know that mom guilt is sometimes something more like anxiety or depression. We know that we are not less-than because of those labels. So, fuck you mom guilt.

We have an inner Mama Bear who would rip the face off any threat to our families in a heartbeat. Although we don’t always feel it, it is there. We learn to use it for good in the toughest times, like at the ER or to defend our kids from school bullies or to protect our kids from the big scary things in the world that they cannot possibly understand, like divorce or natural disasters or violence around us. We shield our children from harm like badass moms.

Our love is fierce and unique. Our love is individual and deep. Our children can sense our love in everything they do no matter how far from us they drift as they grow. Their hearts know compassion because we showed it to them. We are forever tethered to our families through love, and that is badass.

Being badass makes our million different body shapes and colors gloriously beautiful. We know that sexiness and beauty come from within, and through motherhood, we rock at letting our inner diva shine even if that diva wears sweatpants or T-shirts stained with baby spit-up.

We are badass for putting ourselves last so that our kids can have more. We are badass for occasionally putting everyone else last so that we can get what we want no matter how ridiculous (hello, Halloween candy hidden in the back of the freezer for seven months), because god dammit, we deserve it.

The next time that motherhood takes a hard left when you meant to swerve right, remind yourself of these facts of badassery. You stretched your heart to unimaginable proportions in order to make room for these amazing little people in your life, and sometimes that means making room to hold all the fear and all the pressure so that they don’t have to. Who does that?! Moms. Moms do that without batting an eye.

Because, in the immortal words of Beyoncé, who runs this mutha?! WE DO.