This post is part of The Mama Assembly’s “Motherhood & Identity” mini series. exploring how we rediscover who we are beyond “Mum.”
Wanting more doesn’t make you a bad mum.
It makes you human.
Somewhere between the nappies, lunch boxes, and late-night school forms, we started to believe that wanting more for ourselves was wrong. That “good mums” give everything to their families and expect little in return.
But ambition isn’t a betrayal of your family.
It’s a roadmap back to you.
Before motherhood, you might have had big plans — goals, passions, or side projects that made you feel alive. Then came the beautiful chaos, and those dreams were quietly filed under “later.” Later, when the kids are older. Later, when life slows down. Later, when there’s time.
But here’s the truth. “Later” never arrives on its own. You have to draw it into your map.
Redefining Ambition
Ambition doesn’t have to look like a promotion or a startup or a new degree. It can be as simple as curiosity. A whisper that says, “I wonder if I could…”
Maybe your map includes writing again.
Maybe it’s turning your hobby into something more.
Maybe it’s going back to work, or creating something that’s just yours.
Your goals can evolve. They can fit around nap times, school runs, or stolen hours between bedtime stories and dishes.
Ambition in motherhood isn’t all or nothing. It’s woven into the spaces you make for yourself.
Why Ambition Matters
It’s easy to confuse ambition with selfishness, especially when the world celebrates mums for being selfless. But selfless can start to mean invisible, and that’s not the example our kids need.
They need to see what it looks like when a woman follows her own curiosity.
They need to see resilience, purpose, and joy.
They need to see you trying, failing, laughing, growing.
When you chase something that lights you up, you give your family more than time — you give them a model of what a full, passionate life looks like.
Permission to Dream Again
If you’ve been waiting for a sign to start, this is it.
You don’t need to have a perfect plan.
You just need one small step — one dot on your map that belongs to you.
Maybe it’s signing up for a course, carving out time for a creative project, or saying yes to something that scares and excites you.
Because ambition isn’t selfish.
It’s self-expression.
It’s remembering that you still have your own story to write.
🌸 Read Next in the Motherhood & Identity Series
- Part 1 → Who Was I Before “Mum”?
- Part 2 → Why "balance" might be a lie
- Part 3 → The Invisible Load No One Talks About
- Part 4 → Making Room for You (Without Guilt)
💬 Join the Conversation
What’s one ambition you’ve quietly shelved that’s calling your name again?
“Ambition doesn’t take you away from your family. It leads you back to yourself.” - The Mama Assembly
☕ Try This Week
Take 15 minutes to map something just for you.
Grab a notebook and write down one thing you’d love to do, big or small, and one action that moves you toward it.
You don’t need to know the whole route.
Just start somewhere on the map.
0 comments