The metamorphosis of motherhood

Kari and Jeddy Azuma with their newborn.

​I know when I became a mother, I changed, and in a good way. I was the same person with the same face, the same history, the same story but something was different. The word ineffable reflects the metamorphosis that occurs when a woman (or person) becomes a parent. It is hard to put into words the profound shift in identity and purpose that happens when you give birth and slowly grow into motherhood. My guest Kari says in this interview “you don't wake up a mother, it is something you grow into.”

When you become a parent, pre-birth expectations drop away as reality kicks in. Life that perhaps was once goal or career orientated shifts as life with a baby forces a new daily rhythm. A slowing down, surrendering and letting go for a new way of being in the world.

My guest Kari Azuma, leadership development coach and mother, from Santa Barbara, California joins us in a conversation about her transition to motherhood, birth as an opportunity for personal evolution and finding your passion and power as a mother.

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This episode focuses the lens on motherhood; my guest Kari specifically works with mothers. Yet, whatever gender you identify as this episode speaks to all parents in the metamorphosis that occurs with the birth of a new family member.

I ask Kari about her reality post having her baby. What it means to slow down. There is a notion of six weeks postpartum and then you go back to your pre-pregnancy self, back to your pre-pregnancy clothes, job, sex life and interests as if you never had a baby. This concept intersects with being measured up against your pre-child state and your new life with a baby or young children. You can't always go at the same pace or speed at which you once could and you are not always interested in the things you once were.

Part of pregnancy and the journey to becoming a mother involves dreaming and planing, what life will be like with your baby. I ask Kari, about her pre-birth expectations of life with a baby and what a more truer perspective of becoming a mother is. Kari says “one thing you can count on, is that there are unknowns. To know that life isn't going to be a straight line. Have a plan and be open to the mystery of becoming a mother.”

Sometimes birth doesn't go to plan, despite how much preparation and planning happens. Kari, mentioned her birth was a traumatic experience. I wanted to know more about her experience and how it has shaped and changed her perspective on life, work and herself.

More covered in this episode:
Postnatal depression.
Motherhood as a powerful opportunity for transformation.
Birth as a Rite of Passage and the commercialism of motherhood

Take a listen to our interview with Kari Azuma here:

Listen to "The metamorphosis of motherhood." on Spreaker.</<script async src="https://widget.spreaker.com/widgets.js">

Connect with Kari at kariazuma.com.
This episode was written and produced by Lara Martin.