Even though I haven’t birthed another human being, I mother adults. It’s really amazing work (and especially cool to mother the mothers – they need it more than most people). If I worked every single hour of every single day for the rest of my life, I’d never be able to get to all the people who need what we do.
We all have it in us to mother others, regardless of our gender, or whether or not we’ve had children. The world would be a much better place if we would give each other permission to ask for and give loving, reassuring, nurturing care to others. To be able to hold someone when they cry and tell them it’s going to be okay is to be human, and to share the burdens of pain, loss and loneliness that all of us experience.
Kindness, comfort and tenderness are in short supply in our world today. Please try to offer a little bit of one of these things to friends, lovers, acquaintances and strangers whenever you can. Take the time to ask people if they need anything, if you can help them out. Let them know that you see them struggling or suffering, and that they’re not alone. It’s a very quick and easy way to create palpable change in the world.