[𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟗] 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐭
𝟐𝟏 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐦𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐲
[𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟗] 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐭
Back to the Odyssey again. I love the bit at the end when Odysseus comes home. He kills all the suitors who are wanting to marry his wife (he had been gone for 20 years so was presumed dead). He then climbs into bed with Penelope, his wife.
There’s a build-up to this scene. We’ve been waiting for it for the whole fairytale splurge of the Odyssey, so when it happens, it has to be introduced slowly - first, Odysseus’ son turns up, and Penelope weeps for joy. Then Odysseus comes in disguised as a beggar, and the suitors are awful to him. Then there’s a contest to see if someone can shoot an arrow straight through 12 axes, something which marks Odysseus out as the returning King. And then Odysseus and Telemachus do one of those round up action scenes where they kill everyone in sight.
The bit where you think it’s all over and the nice period where everything’s back to normal are actually a pretty long way apart in the text.
There’s a lot of wisdom in this bit of the story. When we’re working towards something, it feels like everything will be okay when we get there finally; it’ll all be gravy after that. But of course, it feels different in reality. Sometimes we’re too tired to enjoy the moment. Sometimes it doesn’t feel real.
When I got signed off as a midwife, it was a good moment, but it was also less impactful than I’d hoped for. I still had some shifts to go and a few things to hand in. This is the horrible thing about a big effort; by the time you get to the end, it sometimes doesn’t feel worth it.
The real ‘final moment’ of my degree was 6 months later, with money in the bank, and me conducting a waterbirth. For that particular client, I was able to be the midwife I’d be aiming to become.
As you get better at midwifery, you will have insanely good moments. But don’t expect your progress to be linear. Feel it out, and when the moment when you’re home and dry arrives, notice it and savour it.
All my best,
Ellie.
