Rage

On the heels of grief comes another big emotion.

Not just anger...rage. Deep down in your soul, seething, violent, white-hot rage.

Mama bear rage.

The rage of seeing your child hurt and knowing there's nothing you can do about it.

But what if mama bear rage isn't just about seeing your child hurt?

What if all those mama bears are seeing something happen to their babies that they not only know they are powerless to control or to make better, but they are also triggered because the same things happened to them.

What if they are not only dealing with all the feelings and terrible circumstances of their babies - trying to be there to comfort them, to support them, and to help them deal with their feelings. What if they are also trying to deal with their own feelings - grappling with the realization that they are struggling to deal with their past traumas and maybe even the traumas of generations of women before them.

There are generations of pent up rage seeking a voice.

And what if added to this is a muddled cesspool of feelings you add feelings of betrayal, grief, guilt, and blame, topped off with shame for even feeling these things in the first place.

Then what? What is mama bear to do?

Denying these feelings isn't working.

Denying them is poisonous.

Denying them is eating mama bear alive inside.

Denying them doesn't make her more enlightened. Denying them only makes her less whole. Less real.

And NONE of that is gonna help her or her baby.