Are you supposed to be doing something right now that feels difficult to begin? Let's explore the journey and look into the challenges and faith it takes to move forward. Do it scared. Just start.

Do something, anything. The world treats moving forward like it's a t-shirt slogan, but I'm finding that it can be more complicated than that. Or is it just me? Some say give it to God.

Daughter, a noun. A girl or woman in relation to either or both of her parents. Relation, a noun.

A person who is connected by blood or marriage. A kinsman or kinswoman. The way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected.

A thing's effect on or relevance to another. I had never realized that I wasn't aware of what this word meant or how to be one. Daughter.

Hey mom friends, welcome to The Real Motherhood with Jacque Jackson. I'm Jacque Jackson and today I'll be sharing a deeply personal look into my mind and identity since becoming a mother with a multimedia piece that I created in a workshop back at the end of 2021. So as a documentary photographer, I was able to express myself with pictures and words in a way that was very different from my usual work in motherhood photography.

Motherhood happened, and it's been a wild ride. Despite its challenges, I'm deeply thankful for it. My past haunted me in many ways, but as I stand scrubbing oatmeal from bowls or buried under laundry, I realize how others' words and actions shaped me without my consent.

I'm not entirely those things, or am I? The weight of their impact is heavier than I realized. Some labels fit, but many didn't. Yet I unknowingly absorbed them all.

I expect to be able to verbalize the things that go on in my head and my heart without a fight. I mean, ultimately, I want world peace. And I'm not even saying that to be funny. I really genuinely just want good things for myself. I want good things for my children. I want good things for the people around me.

I just believe that sometimes we all have these parts of us that hinder us. And though I expect so much, I feel like at the end of the day, I am the only person that I can control. And that means managing myself and those expectations.

And truthfully, it's quite triggering. Before now, I obviously experienced external expectations and I know that I will continue to in the future, and so will you. But suddenly, it feels more to me like when you buy a new red truck.

And I've been chewing on these words for a long while and have had a few realizations. The first being, I was wrong. I've been on this earth for 37 years now.

Society has a nice way of making motherhood something that floats prettily on top of water. Something to be adored and viewed from a distance. Give her flowers.

Send her a card. Tell her she's amazing. But don't get too close.

Don't touch. Don't touch the pretty little thing floating on top of the water. If you do, you might learn that the distance you've kept was deceptive

Every mom in the world has a story to tell. She's just waiting on someone to be nosy enough to ask her about it and actually actively listen to what she says. When I think about the things that I experience as a mom, it makes me very frustrated that relationships have become very surface level.