It’s a rare gift to be able to anticipate a life-changing event. That is, to be able to say, “After this, things will never be the same,” or “After that happens, my world will metaphorically flip.”
I had a baby in April – a scheduled c-section – and I had the privilege of knowing that my life as I knew it was over. But in the best way. This was my first child, a son, so I didn’t know what to expect beyond “everything will be different, somehow.” I had roughly 9 months to reflect on it though - how my everyday would change, how I’d accommodate a baby alongside my career and athletic goals, and how I’d preserve myself in the process.
There’s a lot I tried to anticipate, but there’s no way I could be ready for the reality of it. First and foremost, I didn’t realize how much I was going to love my child, and how entirely my priorities would change; my goals went from “train for the next marathon and market my recent book,” to “keep him from crying and try to get a nap in.”