Matrescence: The Word That Finally Gave My Motherhood a Name | This is Mabel
🌿 Matrescence: The Word That Finally Gave My Motherhood a Name
“They told me I’d become a mum — but no one told me I’d become someone new.”
When I first became a mother, I thought I was losing myself.
The girl who loved music, slow mornings, and her old oversized hoodies started to fade under sleepless nights and endless to-do lists.
Everyone around me told me this was normal — that motherhood changes you.
But no one said how much.
Or that it was okay to grieve the version of you that existed before.
For a long time, I thought there was something wrong with me.
Only recently I stumbled across a word that changed everything: Matrescence.
🌸 What is Matrescence?
Matrescence (pronounced ma-tres-uhns) is the physical, emotional, and identity transformation that happens when a woman becomes a mother.
Coined by anthropologist Dana Raphael in the 1970s, it describes the deep, complex shift that so many mums experience — the one that often goes unnamed.
It’s like adolescence, but for motherhood.
A time when your hormones, body, mind, and sense of self are all renegotiating who you are.
It’s not just about giving birth to your baby — it’s about being reborn yourself.
💭 The Mental Load No One Talks About
When you’re in the middle of matrescence, it can feel like you’re unraveling.
You love your child fiercely, but you might also miss your freedom, your body, your creativity — yourself.
And that can be hard to admit.
Motherhood is often portrayed as this glowing, all-fulfilling experience.
But the truth is, it’s both beautiful and brutal.
And that’s okay.
You can love your baby deeply and still long for the version of you that came before.
You can be grateful and exhausted.
You can be a mum and still be you.
That duality — the in-between — is where I found This is Mabel.
🖤 How Mabel Was Born
During those foggy, in-between days, I started creating clothes that made me feel like me again.
Soft, oversized sweatshirts that hugged my anxiety instead of squeezing it.
Simple designs with statements that said the things I was too tired to explain.
A reminder that I was still here — even if I was changing.
Mabel was never just about clothes.
It was about belonging. Just as she is... just as she should be.
About finding comfort in the chaos and beauty in the becoming.
Every piece I create carries that reminder:
✨ You’re not lost — you’re just becoming.
🌱 You’re Still You, Even As You Change
If you’ve been feeling like you don’t recognise yourself lately — if you’ve felt invisible, tired, stretched too thin — you’re not broken.
You’re just in your matrescence.
You’re growing, evolving, and learning how to be both the person you were and the mother you’re becoming.
So breathe.
Put on something that feels like comfort.
And remind yourself:
You’re still you — just softer, stronger, becoming.
💌 From One Mum to Another
This is your reminder that motherhood isn’t a finish line — it’s a transformation.
If you’re struggling with your mental health, identity, or confidence, you’re not alone.
You’re in the process of becoming — and that’s sacred.
That’s what This is Mabel stands for.
Clothes that hold space for who you are and who you’re becoming.
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