HAVE YOU EVER FELT EXCLUDED?

A blog post I read today resonated with me it was about a mum who felt like she was being excluded by other mums when she took her daughter to an extracurricular activity. It resonated with me because I have been that mum recently. I can think of one particular thing I went to where no one talked to me and they were all talking to each other. I tried to contribute to the conversation but was met with a frosty response. To any mother that's ever happened to I'd like to offer some advice. 

As a child I was super overweight and unpopular. People used to tease me and when I spoke in primary school they often said 'wow can you hear something? I think I heard a voice? Oh no that was nothing' and I'd walk off alone and go and sit by myself. 

Then in high school I turned things around and got very thin. People would comment 'she only eats two apples a day'. No matter how hard I tried I didn't fit in. I'd have this strategy where I'd see who was away for the day then I'd go round and ask groups of girls at lunch if they'd seen that person because we were 'hanging out at lunch'. Then I thought they'd think I had a friend at least. The other thing I'd do is go over to the public phone and hold it to my ear and pretend to talk to someone even though there was no one on the other line because the pain of sitting alone and being watched was too much. 

Then one day something clicked. Well, I fell in love with a very attractive young man who was super popular and a lot older than me and I was suddenly a little less offensive to these 'mean girls'. 

None of it really matters because in the long run I learnt self respect and self love and not to give the slightest crap what anyone thinks of me. It's so liberating not to care and to enjoy your own company but I must say I heaven't experienced this sort of bitchiness since school and it sucks. 

So to any mean mums out there boo to you, to any other mums that are in a 'click' and notice another new to the area or your child's activity classes or whatever, take the time to be nice and smile, maybe say 'Hello, how are you?' and if you're on the other end of meanness, try to ignore it and acknowledge your own self worth. Feel the sunshine on your shoulders, the air in your lungs and see the light that burns bright in your own child's eyes, the ones you created, you clever mumma and know that you are loved, you are so loved.