When I was 8 months pregnant I decided to take off my watch.
I wanted to feel more present, to focus on the here and now. Having my watch on meant I was rushing and thinking where I needed to be and how late I was since everything took me much longer at this point (a preparation for life with a baby).
And so, after a few days without my watch I felt myself become calmer and more connected to my body. For the last month of my pregnancy I focused on doing my Hypnobirthing meditations and connecting with my baby, as well as resting and relaxing.
After the baby was born, I felt the need to be without my watch even more strongly. T
he strict and punctual timings just did not match with my new life as a mother to a newborn. She needed me to be more lenient with timings and I felt too overwhelmed by keeping up with a strict schedule.
It was only at around 6 months postpartum that I felt my baby had established a routine for herself quite organically in a way that I didn’t need to feel pressured by seeing the time go by. It was therefore around 7 months postpartum that I started looking for my watch again, feeling it would help me throughout my day rather than stress me out and put unnecessary pressure on me.
Taking off your watch can be something so small but at the same time a huge lesson for you, especially if you are like me, a bit of a control freak.
This is an opportunity to experiment with what it feels like not to know, and to trust your inner knowing. It is such important practice for motherhood, where I found myself in these type of situations so much more often than ever before in my life.
