I Want to Run Away

By Lysa TerKeurst

"If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him—then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you." Deuteronomy 11:22-23 (NIV)

One of the worst feelings in the world to me is feeling stuck.

Stuck in a situation where I can't see things getting better. I look at the next 5 minutes, 5 hours, 5 days, and all I see are the same hard patterns being repeated over and over.

I try to give myself a pep talk and tap into that part of me that chooses to see the bright side. But it isn't there.

Life suddenly feels like it will forever be this way.

My Battle with Postpartum Depression

Even though I felt myself being sucked into an abyss of darkness, I refused to reach out for help.

by Shoshana Kagan

Looking down at my 6-month-old daughter, Rivka, I am filled with immense gratitude for this sweet bundle of joy in my arms. I caress her warm soft skin and gaze gently into her sparkling eyes. Relishing in the simple joys of motherhood I relax in my chair as I feed my child, letting my mind flow.

Suddenly, I sit up with a start and my dreamy smile slowly evaporates. A far off memory has jolted me. In my mind’s eye, I see a younger version of myself holding another six month old little girl. I am catapulted a decade back in time. I’m 24 years old and I’m holding my second child Devorah who is screaming.

Superwoman Is Dead

Most mothers fight a constant battle between stress and guilt. 

by Emuna Braverman

“The Age of the Superwoman is dead,” says Samantha Parent Walravens, editor of the recently released TORN: True Stories of Kids, Career & the Conflict of Modern Motherhood. I called Ms. Walravens at her Northern California home to discuss the impetus for the book and her goals and vision. We forged an instant bond because I know first-hand exactly what she is talking about.

Many of us today have bought into the superwoman myth. We think we can do it all – careers, children, healthy marriages – and then we realize that we still need to sleep at night!

Motherhood Is Not a Competition

Three ways to confront and overcome the destructive nature of jealousy.

by Dr. Meg Meeker

Twenty-some years ago, I was driving down the highway very early in the morning. I was a senior pediatric resident at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and was trying to get to work early enough to check on the younger residents’ patients before I started morning rounds. It was spring and I was pregnant with our second child. I was driving about 60 mph in a 65mph zone when I saw, with my peripheral vision, a friend trying to pass me in the left-hand lane on her way to make rounds.

The Cleavage Countdown: 8 Facts About Breasts

Stephanie Pappas and Jeanna Bryner

Credit: Dreamstime

Boob Basics

The quintessential embodiment of female sexuality, breasts have fascinated and mystified since the beginning of time. From the biology that makes breasts, and breast-feeding, possible, and the odd boob changes that occur with motherhood to historical perceptions of the hourglass shape, LiveScience the art and science of breasts.

The First Bra

Women have strapped down their breasts with fabric bands or boosted their cleavage with body-shaping corsets for centuries, depending on current fashions. But the precursors to modern bras began to appear in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The magazine “Vogue” first used the term brassiere in 1907. In 1914, American Mary Phelps-Jacobs patented the first bra design, which consisted of two handkerchiefs sewn together with baby ribbon used as straps.
The first push-up bra came on the scene in 1948, introduced by Frederick Mellinger of Frederick's of Hollywood fame. According to Redbook magazine, the average woman today owns nine bras.

Why Childfree Couples Have It All

Laura Carroll

Author and Communications 

Consultant

Keli Goff hits the nail on the head in her post "Why Women Shouldn't Want To Have it All" when she makes the point that for all the solutions Anne-Marie Slaughter lays out as necessary for more women to be able to "have it all," "she completely omits one of the most obvious: the need to change the entire conversation about how women define success, from a one-size fits all model that includes marriage, motherhood and career into a find-what-works-for-you model."

Why is parenthood always in the work-life equation? Because we assume that at one point or another, our personal lives will involve raising children. And we make this assumption because for generations, we've been taught to believe that parenthood is the ultimate path to fulfillment in life. We may have successful careers and do many other things in life, but becoming a mother and father is what's going to make life truly worthwhile.

The key phrase here is what we "have been taught to believe" about parenthood. To understand how we've come to believe what we do about parenthood we have to go back in time. Throughout history, valuing fertility was necessary to ensure survival. Leaders encouraged, even mandated population growth to offset population losses due to infant mortality, war and disease. The larger a society's population, the more it could expand and gain power.