Transforming Motherhood: Creating Your Personal Journey

Diane Sanford, Ph.D., is the President of Women’s Healthcare Partnership in Creve Coeur. She is also the author of Postpartum Survival Guide; Midlife and Menopause: A Celebration of Women’s Health. www.drdianesanford.com 314.991.5666

In recent years the idea of raising kids as a woman’s life purpose has come back, and accordingly mothers today face an unbelievable amount of pressure and performance anxiety. Media loves the myth of a “Super Mom,” and women are bombarded with impossible standards of what a modern-day woman should be – smart, successful, beautiful, thin… Unfortunately the majority of us have bought into this fantasy and are working too hard to achieve perfection at too many roles – being the best mother, wife, professional, friend, hostess, fitness guru … and the list goes on and on. Perfection is held up as the standard of being a successful mom--rather than letting women know that such lofty goals are unrealistic and inhuman, and often lead to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and the feeling that we are forever falling short.....