It is always good to start your week looking back on all the things that you are grateful for in your life. Whenever I hold or attend a woman's circle I like to begin it with a circle of gratitude, where by everyone who is present gets to talk about what they are grateful for. I have not had the opportunity to hold one recently, so this contest by @corina is giving me the opportunity to do just that.

So thank you @corina for creating this lovely contest.

When I was younger I did not have a lot of confidence, I struggled at times to find my place and where I really wanted to be. There is so much pressure on fitting in. There is also a lot of pressure put on you to know what you want to do with your life, to foresee your future and your place in it. When I was in my final year of school I had no idea what I wanted to do.

My mum suggested nursing, I didn't really want to be a general nurse, so in the end I trained to be a mental health nurse, I knew I wanted to work with people. And living in the countryside in Ireland there was not many options for me to choose from. But I did get to leave home and move to London to study, because over there I got a grant, which meant my training was free. This was a huge step for me, leaving the countryside and moving to the city.

Okay now I am getting side tracked, but it is relevant. My life has been full of adventures and learning curves, I have had one hell of a ride so far. But in 2008 my life changed hugely. I was travelling in Thailand and I got pregnant with my first child. I must say I loved being pregnant, at last I finally felt comfortable in my skin.

I felt confident and I realized that what I really wanted was to be a mother to this amazing being that was growing inside of me. The love I felt was overwhelming, it really blew me away. I decided that I would stop working and focus on being a mum. Luckily my partner supported that.

What came after that was a birth that rocked my core as it did not happen how I wanted it to or how I planned it. It brought up so many emotions, anger, fear, shame. I realized how vulnerable you can be at birth, how important it is to be some where you feel safe and nurtured. But with all those feelings came a huge passion for birth, a passion to educate myself and others on our bodies, our choices and our rights. To reconnect to the wisdom that our bodies hold, our bodies know how to birth, we just need to trust and surrender.

I have since had 2 more children and with those births I have learned so much. I trained to become a Doula and in doing so felt that I was finally getting to be who I am suppose to be. I have felt myself come into my power and with that I wish to help advocate natural birth and women's choice.

I feel such a strong desire to reach out to women and help them tap into the amazing power that we all hold inside of us, regardless or whether we decide to become mothers or not. I really tapped in to my nurturing side when I birthed my children, but many women birth in different ways, some birth amazing ideas and art. We birth them and nurture them, to me that is our power.

So my gift was the act of birth, which has led me to receiving the gift of motherhood and also the ability to tap into my creative and nurturing side. Because of this my life is full. I love being a mother, yes it is challenging and yes I am at my wits end at times, but I love being with my children and watching them grow because I have grown in so many ways alongside them.

I have to thank my partner for this, the greatest gift that I have received. Which in turn has given me so many other gifts as well.

Image Source for 1st Image:http://www.newmoonvisions.com/home/nmv2/listitems_152?from=184

Big Big Thank You To @byn for designing my logo.